
ClassJ J 0; i 

Book » ,jL 



CbjpgM?. 



COPXRIGHT DEPOSm 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



OCTAVO, ILLUSTRATED. PER VOL., $1.50 



THE EARLIER VOLUMES WILL BE 

THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A. Harrison 
THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Gilman 
THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmer 
THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. Ragozin 
THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Boyesen 
THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould 
THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and Susan Hale 
THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vambery 
THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfred J. Church 
THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Arthur Gilman 
THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. Ragozin 
THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henry Bradley 
THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett 
THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. Benjamin. 
THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By ProfJ.P.MAHAFFY 
THE STORY OF EARLY EGVPT. By Geo. Rawlinson 
For prospectus of the series see end of this volume 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON 



The Story of the Nations. 



MESSRS. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in 
announcing that they have in course of publication a 
series of historical studies, intended to present in a 
graphic manner the stories of the different nations that 
have attained prominence in history. 

In the story form the current of each national life will 
be distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy 
periods and episodes will be presented for the reader in 
their philosophical relation to each other as well as to 
universal history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes 
to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring 
them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and 
struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused 
themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with 
which the history of all lands begins, will not be over- 
looked, though these will be carefully distinguished from 
the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted 
historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. 

The subjects of the different volumes will be planned 
to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive 
epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will 
present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in 
the great STORY OF THE NATIONS ; but it will, of course, 
not always prove practicable to issue the several volumes 
in their chronological order. 

The " Stories " are printed in good readable type, and 
in handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illustrated 
and furnished with maps and indexes. They are sold 
separately at a price of $1.50 each. 



The following is a partial list of the subjects thus far 
determined upon : 

THE STORY OF EARLY EGYPT. Prof. George Rawlinson. 
" *CHALDEA. Z. Ragozin. 
" *GREECE. Prof. James A. Harrison, 

Washington and Lee University. 
" *ROME. Arthur Gilman. 
" *THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hosmer, 

Washington University of St. Louis. 
" *CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church, 

University College, London. 
" BYZANTIUM. 

" THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 
" *THE NORMANS. Sarah O. Jewett. 
" *PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. 
" *SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. 
" ^GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 
" THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 
" HOLLAND. Prof. C. E. Thorold Rogers. 
" *NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen. 
" *THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole. 
" *HUNGARY. Prof. A. VAmbery. 
" THE ITALIAN KINGDOM. W. L. Alden. 
" EARLY FRANCE. Prof. Gustave Masson. 
" ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. P. Mahaffy. 
" THE HANSE TOWNS. Helen Zimmern. 
" ASSYRIA. Z. Ragozin. 
" *THE SARACENS. Arthur Oilman. 
" TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. 
" PORTUGAL. II. Morse Stephens. 
" MEXICO. Susan Hale. 
" " IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. 

" PHCENICIA. 
" SWITZERLAND. 
" RUSSIA. 
" WALES. 
" SCOTLAND. 

* (The volumes starred are now ready, January, 1887.) 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
New York London 

27 and 29 west twenty-third street 27 king william Street, strand 






PREFACE. 

The author wishes to call attention to the fact 
that the scope of this work is entirely different from 
that of the volume recently published by him, 
entitled " Persia and the Persians." The latter work 
is intended to give a description of Persia as it is; 
while the present volume is a history of Persia, 
as it has been, offering a narrative of the most note- 
worthy characters and events of that ancient empire 
from its foundation in prehistoric times. 

This work differs from other histories of Persia in 
giving more proportionate attention to the legendary 
period of her history than is usual with those who 
have dealt with this subject, as well as to the great 
career of the House of Sassan, which, in the opinion 
of the author, has never received full justice from 
chose Christian historians who have undertaken a 
connected history of Persia. On the other hand, the 
long period between the Saracen invasion and the 
rise of the Sefaveans has been presented so fully 
elsewhere, and offers so few really salient points that 
are distinctly connected with the development of 
Persia as an independent monarchy, that it hardly 
seemed best to give more than a mere outline of 
that period in a volume whose limits are circum- 
scribed. 



VI PREFACE. 

It seems to be the established rule for historians 
to refer to the authorities they have consulted. The 
author may therefore state that he has, in the 
preparation of this volume, made use of the various 
well-known authorities on the subject ; but it is 
scarcely worth while to present a list of them here. 
Those writers who are dead will not be disturbed by 
any departure from their opinions or any new pres- 
entation of the facts they recorded ; while living 
authorities can see for themselves whether the author 
has agreed or disagreed with their conclusions. 

In several instances, as in regard to the character 
and career of Chosroes Parveez, or the quality of 
Persian military talents and courage, the author has 
found it impossible to arrive at exactly the same 
conclusions as many writers on Persia. A long 
residence in various parts of the East, including 
several years in Persia, has led the author to form 
a higher and, he thinks, a more just estimate of the 
character of Orientals than many European writers 
are willing to concede to them. For the rest, the 
author commits this little work to the reader with 
the hope that he may find " The Story of Persia " 
not unworthy a place by the side of the histories of 
Greece and of Rome. 

S. G. W. Benjamin, 




CONTENTS. 



I. 

PAGE 

Feridoon 1-23 

Founders of Persia, 1 — Shah Djemsheed, 2—5 — Royal 
standard of Persia, 8 — Imprisonment of Zohak, 10 — 
Daughters of Yemen, 12 — Treachery of Serv, 15 — Feri- 
doon's test, 17 — Murder of Iredj, 21 — Feridoon's ven- 
geance, 23. 

II. 

Zal 24-33 

Minoutchehr ascends the throne, 24 — Sahm's white-haired 
son, 25 — Zal, governor of Seistan, 26 — Roodabeh's love, 
27 — Wedding festivities, 33. 

III. 

RUSTEM 34-42 

Capture of Sipend, 35 — Death of Minoutchehr, 36 — 
Turkish invasion, 37 — Kel Kaoos, 38 — Soudabeh's adven- 
tures, 39 — Afrasiab defeats the Syrians, 40 — Embarkation 
of Rustem, 41 — Rustem's victory, 42. 

IV. 
SOHRAB . . . . . . . 43-50 

Loss of Kaksch, 43 — Marriage of Rustem and Tehmimeh, 
44 — Birth of Sohrab, 44 — Sohrab seeks his father, 45 — ■ 
Siege of White Castle, 46 — Gurdaferid, 47 — Treachery, 48 
— Royal missive, 49 — Reconciliation of Rustem and Ke'i 
Kaoos, 50. 



Vlll STOXY OF PERSIA. 

V. 

PAGE 

SOHRAB AND R.USTEM 51—65 

Death of Zendeh Rezm, 52 — Conflict between the Persians 
and Touranians, 56 — Meeting of Rustem and Sohrab, 57 — 
Death of Sohrab, 64 — Tehmimeh dies of grief, 65. 

VI. 

.. - JI^__ 66-81 

Finding of a queen, 66 — Birth of Siawusch, 67 — Trial by 
fire, 69 — Siege of Balkh, 70 — Hospitality of Afrasiab, 71 — 
Marriage of Siawusch, 73 — Accusations, 74 — Death, 75 — 
Kel Khosroo, 76 — Piran-Wisa's deceit, 77 — Rustem kills 
Soudabeh, 78 — Victory of Kelt Khosroo, 81. 

VII. 

Kei Khosroo, or Cyrus .... 82-97 

Territory of Persia, 83 — Touranians, 84 — Cyaxares and the 
Medes, 86 — Sect of fire-worshippers, 87 — Zoroaster, 88 — 
Subduction of Media, 89 — Crcesus, 90 — Capture of Baby- 
lon, 91 — Warning of Belshazzar, 94 — Death of Belshazzar, 
95 — Death of Cyrus, 96 — Cyrus' tomb at Passargadse, 96. 

VIII. 
From Cyrus to Darius 1 98-1 11 

Succession of Cambyses, 98— Subjugation of Egypt, 99 — 
Smerdis beheaded, 100 — Death of Cambyses, 101 — Election 
of Darius, 102 — Inscription at Behistoon, 103 — Extension 
of Persian empire, 105 — Expedition against Greece, 107 — 
Battle of Marathon, 109. 

IX. 
Xerxes . 1 12-125 

Personal appearance and temperament, 113 — Army, 114 — 
Canal through Mt. Athos, 115 — Thermopylae, 116 — Battles 
at Artemesium, 117; at Salamis, 118 — Retreat of Zerxes, 
121 — Battle of Platea, 122— Defeat of Persians at Mycale, 
124 — Xerxes assassinated, 125. 



CONTENTS. IX 

X. 

PAGE 

Persia until the Invasion of Alexander . 126-140 

Artaxerxes Longimanus, 126 — Rebellion of Megabyzus, 127 
— Xerxes II., 128 — Degeneracy of Persian monarchy under 
Darius Nothus, 129 — Treachery of Tissaphernes, 130 — 
Cyrus the Younger purchases services of Greek mercenaries, 
132 — Battle of Cunaxa, 133 — Retreat of the Ten Thousand, 
135 — Ochus, 136 — Siege of Sidon, 138 — Murder of Arta- 
xerxes III., 139 — Darius Codomanus, 140. 

XL 

Darius Codomanus and Alexander . 141-157 

Rout at the river Granicus, 141 — Reduction of Phoenicia, 
142 — Defeat of Persians on the plains of Arbela, 143 — 
Alexander enters Persepolis, T44 — Alexander's feast, 145 — 
Assassination of Darius, 146 — Intermarriage between Ma- 
cedonians and natives, 147 — The mystic plane-trees, 148 — 
Death of Alexander at Babylon, 149 — Pitho, satrap of 
Media, 150 — Seleucia, capital of the Greco-Persian empire, 
151 — Elements of discord, 151 — Revolt of Diodatus, 154 — 
Shepherds of Parthia, 156 — Rhages or Rhe'i, 157. 

XII. 
The Parthians ...... 158-170 

Arsaces I., 158 — Mithridates the Great, 161 — Murder of 
Phraortes, 162 — Defeat of the Romans, 163 — Ctesiphon, 
164 — Campaign of Marc Antony, 166 — Final check to the 
Romans, 167 — Vologeses I., 168 — Destruction of Seleucia, 
169. 

XIII. 

The House of Sassan ... 171-178 

Rise of the Neo-Persian power, 172 — Artaxerxes or Ardeshir 
declares Persia independent, 173 — War with Rome, 174 — 
Faith of Ormuzd, 175 — The Zendavesta, 176 — Religious 
character of the Persian revolution, 177. 



X STORY OF PERSIA. 

XIV. 

PAGE 

Sapor I. ... . . . . . . 180-189 

Daughter of Manizen, 180 — Recovery of Nisibis, 181 — 
Imprisonment and death of Valerian, 182 — Cultivation of 
the arts, 183 — Dyke of Shuster, 184 — Manichseism, 185 — 
Death of Sapor, 186. 

XV. 

Persia until the Reign of Sapor II. . 190-206 
Death of Manee, 190 — War of Sapor II. with Rome, 192 
— Julian the Apostate masses his forces at Antioch, 194 — 
Rejects peaceable propositions of Sapor, 195 — Massacre of 
population at Hit, 197 — Race for Ctesiphon, 199 — Julian 
burns his fleet, 200 — Death of Julian at Samarah, 202 — 
Retreat of the Romans, 203. 

XVI. 

From Sapor II. to Chosroes I. . . 207-225 

Death of Sapor I., 207 — Isdigerd I., 208 — Boyhood of 
Varahran, 209 — Peace with the Romans, 210 — Ephthalites 
or White Huns, 211 — Victory of Varahran, 213 — Refind- 
ing of an old love, 216 — Perozes, 217 — Restoration of 
Zoroastrianism in Armenia, 218 — Mazdak the reformer, 
219 — Deposition of Kobad, 220 — Restoration to the throne, 
221 — Destruction of the Mazdakites, 223 — Renewed hostili- 
ties with Rome, 224 — Death of Kobad, 225. 

XVII. 

Chosroes I., surnamed Anurshirwan . 226-236 

Conspiracy against Chosroes crushed, 226 — Execution of 
Mazdak, 227 — Justice of Chosroes, 228 — Establishment of 
fixed taxes, 230 — Chosroes founds university of Shapoor, 
231 — The Augustan period of Persian history, 232 — Ex- 
pulsion of Abyssinians from Arabia, 233 — Lazic war, 234 — 
Siege of Petra, 235 — Death of Chosroes, 236. 



CONTENTS. XI* 

XVIII. 

PAGE 

Chosroes Parveez 237-266 

Insult to General Bahrain Shobeen, 237 — Death of Hormazd, 
238 — Coronation of Chosroes II., 240 — Flight from 
Ctesiphon, 242 — Seeks aid from the emperor at Constanti- 
nople, 243 — Defeat of Bahram, 244 — Revolt of Vastam, 
245 — Shireen, 246 — Friendly relations with Maurice, 247 — 
War in Syria, 248 — Siege of Jerusalem, 249 — A proud hour 
for Persia, 250 — Dastagerd, 252 — Oath of Heraclius, 254 
— The star of Persia wanes, 255 — Retreat of Chosroes, 256 
— Campaigns in Asia Minor, 259 — Siege of Tiflis, 260 — 
Battle near Nineveh, 261 — Heraclius sacks Dastagerd, 262 — 
Conspiracy of nobles, 265 — End of the "Great King," 266. 

XIX. 

The Mohammedan Conquest of Persia . 267-282 
Coronation of Siroes, or Kobad II M 267 — Murder of all the 
brothers of Kobad, 26S — Pestilence, 270 — Insurrection and 
death of Shahr Barz, 271 — Coronation of Isdigerd III., 272 
— Campaign against the Saracens, 273 — Repulse of the 
Persians, 274 — " Day of Concussion," 275 — Rustem slain, 
276 — Fate of the leathern standard of Kaweh, 27S — Fall of 
Rhei', 279 — Defeat of the Persians near Nehavend, 281. 

XX. 

Persia under the Mohammedans . . 283-294 
Crushing of Zoroastrianism, 283 — Firdoiisee, 284 — Ismail, 
Shah of Persia, 288 — Shah Abbass the Great, 290 — Rule of 
the Afghans, 291 — Aga Mohammed Khan, 292 — Feth Alee 
Shah, 294. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



persepolis, ruins of ... . Frontispiece. 

PALACE GUARD ....... 7 

CONE Of MX. DEMAVEND . . . . . .II 

KING SLAYS EVIL GENIUS ..... 19 

REPRESENTATIONS OF PERSIAN MYTHOLOGY . . 29 

ANAHITA, OR PERSIAN VENUS 3& 

AHRIMAZDAO 41 

CYRUS — ANCIENT SCULPTURE . ... . -47 

GATEWAYS, PALACE OF DARIUS, PERSEPOLIS . . 53 

ANCIENT PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE 6$ 

FIRE-ALTAR ........ 69 

PILLAR, BASE AND CAPITAL, PERSEPOLIS . . 73 

RELIEF AT BEHISTOON 79 

TOMB OF CYRUS . . . . . . -85 

DARIUS HUNTS ....... 93 

MAP PERSIAN EMPIRE UNDER DARIUS . . face 98 

GATEWAY OF XERXES (PERSEPOLIS) . . . IOO 

HEAD OF DARIUS ....... 106 

PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE ..... 109 

XERXES' SEAT AT SALAMIS . . . . 119 

RELIEF PLATFORM OF XERXES AT PERSEPOLIS . 1 23 

TOMB OF ESTHER AND MORDECAI . . . -131 

RELIEF ON THE STEPS OF XERXES . . . -137 

DARIUS AT ISSUS 143 

ALEXANDER AND FAMILY OF DARIUS . . . 153 

COIN OF MITHRIDATES I. . . . . . l6l 

RUINS OF PALACE AT HATRA ..... 165 

xiii 



XIV 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



COIN OF ORODES 

COIN OF ARDESHIR I. 

ORMUZD . 

RUINS OF CASTLE OF THE FIRE-WORSHIPPERS 

HEAD OF SAPOR I. . 

ROCK SCULPTURE NEAR SHAPOOR 

SAPOR I. PERSIAN SCULPTURE 

PERSIAN CAVALRYMAN . 

SCULPTURE AT TACHT-I-BOSTAN 

COIN OF SAPOR II. . 

HOUSEHOLD FIRE-ALTAR 

VARAHRAN V. IN BATTLE 

COIN OF VARAHRAN V. 

COIN OF CHOSROES I. 

PALACE OF CHOSROES I., CTESIPHON 

CEMETERY OF THE ZOROASTRIANS 

RATSCH-RUSTEM 

"COIN OF PEROZES 

COIN OF CHOSROES II. 

DOMESTIC FIRE-ALTAR 

COIN OF ISDIGERD III. 

TOMB OF AVICENNA 

SHAH ABBASS THE GREAT 

MOSQUE AT ROOM . 

NADIR SHAH . 

MAP — MODERN PERSIA 

AGA MOHAMMED KHAN 

FETH ALEE SHAH 

YOUNG PERSIAN GOVERNOR (MODERN) 



face 



167 

175 
179 

183 

187 

189 

195 
205 

209 

211 

215 
223 
225 

229 

235 

241 

243 
247 
249 
255 

257 
263 
269 
277 
283 
285 
289 
293 



In the preparation of the illustrations for this volume, use has been made of the 
plates in " History of Persia from the Most Early Period to the Present Time," 
by Col. Sir John Malcolm, K.C.B., K.L S., London, 1815, and " Geschichte des 
Alten Persiens," von Dr. Ferdinand Justi, Leipzig, 1879, to the publishers of 
which works we desire to express our acknowledgments. 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. 



i 



r 



, 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



i. 



FERIDOON. 



THE legendary period of Persian history begins 
far back in the mists of time. It is the custom to 
assume that legend means fiction ; but historians are 
now beginning to perceive that the legends of a na- 
tion are often not only more interesting and poetic 
than what is called its authentic history, but that 
they really suggest actual facts, while nothing can be 
more fascinating than the study of such legends. No 
country has more attractive legends than Persia; 
and to judge from them we cannot avoid the 
conclusion that no nation now existing has such a 
continuous vitality as the old land of Cyrus and 
Xerxes. 

The founder of the Persian nation was Kaiomurs. 
He also had the title of Gilshah, or king of the 
world. He established his capital at Balkh. The 
wild beasts of the forests acknowledged his 
sway. They paid obeisance at his throne. Kaio- 
murs made it his ambition to civilize the savage 



2 THE STORY OP PERSIA. 

tribes of Asia. In these noble efforts he encount- 
ered violent opposition from the barbarians called 
Beeves ; and he sent against them his handsome 
son Siamek, with a powerful army ; among his auxil- 
iaries were lions and tigers eager for the fray. But 
Siamek was slain in the battle which followed among 
the mountains, and great was the lamentation of all. 
Siamek had a son named Houscheng. He was 
placed at the head of a host that went forth to 
avenge the death of his father; and the Beeves 
were at last subdued. Kaiomurs died soon after this 
event, and Houscheng, wise, prudent, and just, suc- 
ceeded to the throne. It was in his reign that the 
Persians became fire-worshippers, adoring flame as 
the symbol of God. Thamauras succeeded Hous- 
cheng, and he in turn was followed by Shah Djem- 
sheed, who is one of the most celebrated monarchs 
of Persia. Djemsheed, during a reign of many years 
accomplished much for the advancement of his peo- 
ple. He introduced the use of iron, and the weav- 
ing and embroidering of woollen, silk, and cotton 
stuffs ; and divided his subjects into four castes or 
classes: priests, warriors, and traders; the fourth 
caste was composed of husbandmen, who bore the 
name of Nesoudi. Of this class the Persian poet, 
Firdoiisee, wrote : " They render homage to no one ; 
they labor, they sow, they harvest, and are nour- 
ished in the fields of the earth without injury to 
any one. They are subject to the orders of none, 
although their clothes are humble, and their ear is 
never struck by the clamor of slander. They are 
free; and the tillage of the earth is their right; they 



FERIDOON. 3 

have no enemies ; they have no quarrels." It must 
be admitted that this is a somewhat poetic and rose- 
hued description of a farmer's condition. 

Shah Djemsheed also enlisted the subject Deeves 
into the service of making bricks, of which the in- 
vention is attributed to him. He is likewise credited 
with the employment of hewn marble in the con- 
struction of buildings, with the discovery of per- 
fumes, the arts of healing, the invention of ships, and 
many other useful means for benefiting the race. It 
was Djemsheed also who instituted the No Rooz, or 
New Year, at the time of the spring solstice, a festi- 
val still celebrated in Persia with many ceremonies 
during ten days. He seems indeed to have been a 
most puissant, beneficent, and glorious king for 
many peaceful years, until, as the legend records, his 
head was affected by the height of power which he 
had reached ; then he became arrogant and recog- 
nized no other greater-than himself, and forgetting 
his Creator, assumed himself to be the sole architect 
of his greatness. The priests and people trembled 
when they heard his high utterances, for they fore- 
saw that it meant his downfall. They realized what 
a later king wisely said : " Pride goeth before de- 
struction." 

The favor of God was withdrawn and Persia be- 
came torn with discord. It was in vain that the 
haughty monarch besought the divine pardon when 
it was too late. On the western boundaries of Persia 
was a nation whose armies flew to battle on swift 
horses and bearing long spears. They had for 
king, Mardas, widely known for his valor and virtues. 



4 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

To him was born a son who was named Zohak, who 
at first seemed destined to rival the noble qualities 
of his father. But ambition proved the ruin of his 
character — ambition of which a great poet had said, 
" by that sin the angels fell." The Evil One in hu- 
man form came to Zohak and tempted him to slay 
his father and seize the throne. Zohak first hesi- 
tated, but ended by carrying out this fell design. 
Having led him thus far in inquity, the dark spirit con- 
tinued his influence over Zohak, who was now in his 
power, having sold himself to evil. 

Having reached this point, the Devil, in the guise 
of a favorite servant, said to Zohak : " O king, live 
forever, full of content and power ! my heart is full 
of love for thee, and to behold thee is all that I desire. 
I have but one desire to ask of the king, even if this 
honor be above my deserts ; it is that he permit me 
to kiss his shoulders, and that I touch them with mine 
eyes." Zohak perceived not the design of the Evil One 
in making this seemingly simple request, and there- 
fore granted it. An extraordinary result followed, 
for from each of the shoulders of the king sprouted 
a black serpent. Struck with horror, Zohak searched 
everywhere for a remedy, and finally caused the 
reptiles to be cut off at the shoulders. But behold 
they grew forth again like branches of a tree. At 
last the Evil One, in the guise of a skilled physician, 
presented himself before Zohak, and advised him to 
do no injury to the serpents, but to feed them with 
the brains of men, in the hope that they must thus 
ultimately perish. Was this a subtle design to 
cause the destruction of mankind ? Thus early do 



FERIDOON. 5 

we see the superstition of man selling himself 
to the Devil illustrated in Persia as in Europe. All 
are familiar with similar tales in European legends 
of the dark ages. 

It was after these remarkable events that great 
disturbances broke out in Persia ; on all hands was 
discord and strife. Djemsheed, belying his former 
character, became an odious tyrant ; pretenders to 
his throne raised insurrections. Finally, a faction, in 
despair, turned to the west and implored the aid of 
Zohak against the sovereign who had now become 
the greatest enemy of his people. Zohak invaded 
Persia, and . Djemsheed, defeated in battle, took 
flight, abandoning his throne to Zohak. For many 
years he abode in exile concealed. When all sup- 
posed him dead and had quite forgotten him, the 
exile returned, hoping to create a rising in his favor. 
But Zohak caused him to be seized unawares and 
sawn asunder. 

Thus was the fall of the great Djemsheed. But 
the good deeds he accomplished in the first half of 
his reign have caused his memory to live, and to the 
present time the Persians look back with pride to 
the splendor of their country in the days of Shah 
Djemsheed. But Persia groaned under the tyranny 
of Zohak. She had simply exchanged one tyrant 
for another, and that one worse than his predecessor. 
Each day two young men of the flower of Persia's 
youth were slain to gratify the furious hunger of the 
serpents of Zohak. But in time the servitors, who 
acted as executioners and cooks, devised a scheme 
of slaying a sheep in the stead of one of the human 



6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

victims, and permitting him to escape, on condition 
that he fled the country in order that their stratagem 
might not be discovered. 

Finally Zohak dreamed a dream which caused 
him to summon all the mobeds, or wise men, into 
his presence to interpret his vision. Long they 
hesitated, until one of their number, Zirek, stood 
forth and dared to tell the king that the dream fore- 
told the coming of a great and good prince, who 
should hurl him from the throne and bind him in 
chains on the mountains. On coming to his senses 
after falling into a swoon from fear, Zohak sent mes- 
sengers into every quarter of his empire to search 
out and bring to him the fateful prince. They 
sought in vain. But Feridoon, for such was his 
name, was daily growing in strength and preparing 
for the noble task assigned to him by Providence. 
He was the son of Abtin, grandson of Shah Djem- 
sheed, and Firanek, daughter of Thehour, king of 
the isles of Madjin. 

Learning that a glorious son had been born to 
Abtin, Zohak caused Abtin to be seized and ex- 
ecuted. But Firanek escaped with Feridoon, and 
placed him in charge of a gardener, who had a cow of 
extraordinary beauty and lineage, named Purmajeh, 
which secretly nourished the infant for three months. 
But the secret became divulged, and when the mother 
heard that the servants of Zohak were coming to 
snatch her child from the garden, she flew hither, 
and was able to carry Feridoon to the moun- 
tains of Elborz before the coming of the king's 
executioners. 



FERIDOON. 



7 



Years went by and Feridoon reached manhood, and 
descended to the plains to try his fortune. About that 
time Zohak, oppressed by the terrors of conscience, 
called an assembly of his nobles, and required them 
to sign a document asserting that his reign had been 
beneficial to Persia. While this transaction was in 
progress a cry of justice was 
heard at the palace gate, 
and a man named Kaweh, 
a blacksmith, was brought 
into the presence of the 
king. " Who hath wronged 
thee ? " demanded Zohak. 
Kaweh replied, that he 
asked justice and redress 
for the sixteen sons who 
had been slain one by one 
to appease the serpents of 
Zohak. But one remained, 
and he in turn was doomed 
to the same fate. With 
frantic and terrible words 
the blacksmith made the l ^ ' ^^ ' 
proud and cruel monarch palace guard. 

tremble. Appalled by the rage and sorrow of a 
father, whose language seemed like the cry of 
doom, Zohak ordered the only remaining son of 
Kaweh to be restored to him. And then he bade 
him sign the document which the noblemen had 
already signed. On learning its purport, Kaweh 
burst into fierce invectives against the craven nobles 
who had yielded to the wishes of Zohak, and tearing 




8 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the document in twain, rushed forth from the palace 
with shouts of vengeance. 

In the market-place a throng gathered around 
the blacksmith, who summoned the world to rise 
and restore justice to her throne. Placing his 
leathern apron on a spear he proceeded through the 
city, calling on all to follow this standard and sum- 
mon Feridoon to deliver them from the chains of 
Zohak. Feridoon accepted the invitation of the in- 
surgents, and proclaimed the leathern apron as the 
royal standard, causing it to be adorned with gold 
and precious stones and fringed with gayly colored 
embroideries. From that day, until the Mohamme- 
dan conquest many centuries later, the rude leathern 
apron of Kaweh the blacksmith, under the name of 
Kaweianee, was the standard borne at the head of 
the armies of Persia. 

Feridoon having carefully laid his plans, col- 
lected an army, and accompanied by his two broth- 
ers, set out against Zohak, fired with a lofty zeal to 
free his country and avenge his father's death. His 
warriors were mounted on swift steeds. On the way 
he was visited by an angel from paradise, who came 
to him in his tent at night- to foretell the varied for- 
tunes that he was to encounter and bestow on 
him a magic power to overcome the wiles of his foes. 
But the brothers of Feridoon, aware of the visit of 
the celestial messenger, were smitten with envy, and 
conspired to slay their more fortunate brother. 
While he was still sleeping calmly in "his tent they 
hurled an enormous rock from the brow of a preci- 
pice, intending it to fall on the tent. But Feridoon 



FERIDOON. 9 

was awakened by the sound of the rolling rock, and 
by instantly using the magic power given him by the 
angel, arrested the stone in its course. 

The army of the insurgents arrived at last on the 
shores of the Tigris, and Feridoon with his mounted 
host swam across the turbid flood of that famous 
river and arrived at the gates of the proud capital of 
Zohak, whose palace raised its towers to heaven. 
Feridoon bore an iron mace with a head shaped like 
a cow's head, in remembrance of the cow Purmajeh 
which had nourished him. Since that time the form 
of a cow has been a talismanic sign, an omen of 
good fortune, in Persia, engraved on seals or appear- 
ing on maces and shields. The prince smote the 
great gate with his mace, and at the signal his army 
stormed the walls, burst in the gates, and put the 
garrison to flight. Feridoon entered the palace of 
Zohak, but that proud monarch was gone. In the 
apartments of the women the victor found two 
daughters of Shah Djemsheed, whom he at once lib- 
erated. From them he learned the hiding-place of 
Zohak, who it seems was seeking to retrieve his tot- 
tering fortunes by secret conference with magicians. 

A swift messenger bore to Zohak the strange 
tidings of the fall of his capital. Quickly raising an 
army, the usurper rushed home to expel Feridoon 
from his palaces. A terrible battle ensued in the 
streets ; the populace themselves fought against 
Zohak, so weary were they of his tyranny. But he 
succeeded in penetrating to the palace, and, furious 
with jealousy, was about to slay the captive daughters 
of Djemsheed whom Feridoon had rescued and mar- 



10 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ried, but he was met by the young hero, who, instead 
of killing Zohak, made him his captive and reserved 
him for a more dreadful doom. 

When the battle was over and the victory of Feri- 
doon was complete, he marched toward the great 
mountain Demavend in the north of Persia, bearing 
with him the deposed tyrant in chains. On arriving 
at the mountain, Feridoon caused search to be made 
for a deep, narrow, sunless defile in the heart of the 
Demavend, where was a bottomless cavern. Iron 
clamps were made ; Zohak was stretched on the 
edge of the precipice, over the abyss, and bound alive 
to the rock by the clamps, and there they left him 
to fill the air with his shrieks and groans during the 
coming ages.* 

The first act of the good Feridoon, after mounting 
the throne of his ancestors was to send a herald to 
his mother Firanek, who was dwelling in a secret 
hiding-place, to ask her blessing, and announce to her 
the good fortune which Heaven had vouchsafed to 
him and to Persia. Good fortune favored Feridoon 
for many years ; his reign was prosperous, and his 
people happy after their release from the tyranny of 
Zohak. Three sons were born to Feridoon, and 
when they reached the age of manhood he caused 
search to be made for three princesses worthy of 
alliance with the line of Djemsheed. The noble- 
man who was deputed to this task was Djendil, 

* The study of comparative history makes it clear that the story of 
Zohak is a record in poetic form of an invasion of Persia by the As- 
syrians at a time when the reigning dynasty of Djemsheed had fallen 
into degeneracy. 



12 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

noted for his intelligence and discretion and famed 
for his travels. Far and wide over many lands 
Djendil made inquiry for three maidens suited by 
birth and character to become the daughters-in-law 
of Feridoon. But nowhere did he find what he 
sought until he arrived at the court of Serv, the king 
of Yemen. Seeing that in the three fair princesses 
of Yemen he had at last found the objects of his 
quest, Djendil in many lofty and learned phrases, 
conveyed to the king of Yemen the purpose of his 
coming, and in the name of Feridoon proposed their 
alliance with the three princes of the royal house of 
Persia. 

The king of Yemen turned pale when he heard 
this message, but replied, good father as he was : 
" I will consult with my daughters and learn what 
is their will in this matter." He was filled with 
anguish when he thought of having his daughters 
go away from him to a far-off land, whence they 
might never return, although he well knew that 
a marriage alliance with the king of Persia was a 
glory to be sought after, and also that it is the 
lot of parents to see their daughters leave them 
for other homes when they reach years of maturity. 
On the other hand the king of Yemen hesitated to 
affront so great a monarch as Feridoon by refusing 
the honor. He therefore summoned his nobles in 
council and asked their advice. 

The nobles advised a course rather more haughty 
than he felt justified in pursuing, and he therefore 
followed his own judgment. He took a middle 
course. % Instead of definitely accepting or rejecting 



FERIDOON. 1 3 

the offer, he stated that he must first see the three 
brothers ; if they would come to his court, and he 
found them suited to' marry his daughters, he would 
not withold his consent. This was an unusual pro- 
ceeding in an Oriental country, for Persia was more 
powerful than Yemen, and it is customary there for 
the bride of a prince to go to the home of her hus- 
band without a previous interview with the father- 
in-law. 

Djendil having received the response of the king 
of Yemen, kissed the throne, and returned to his 
rOyal master, who summoned his three sons when he 
heard the reply, and advised them as follows : " The 
king of Yemen is head of a numerous people ; he is 
a cypress that casts a shadow afar. He has three 
daughters like pearls; he has no sons, and these 
maidens are his diadem. I have asked them for you. 
But it is now necessary that you repair to Yemen, 
and that you conduct yourselves with prudence and 
circumspection ; pay careful attention to all that he 
shall say to you ; remembering that you are the sons 
of a king. Listen, therefore, to my counsel, and if 
you act accordingly you shall reap happiness. 

" The king of Yemen is a man of great shrewdness. 
He is wise, upright, and powerful. He must on no 
account discover you to be lacking in intelligence, 
for he will undoubtedly employ devices to test your 
character and ability. He will decree a banquet on 
the first day in your honor. His three fair daughters, 
lovely as gardens in spring-time will be present. He 
will seat them on the throne-royal, and in height and 
appearance they will strongly resemble each other. 



1 4 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

The youngest of the three will enter first, the oldest 
will come last, and the second will come between 
them. He will place the youngest next to the oldest 
of you ; the eldest next to the youngest prince, and 
the second in age will be seated next to the one of you 
whose age is between his brothers. Note this point 
well ; for thus you will avoid a disastrous result. 
He will ask you, then, to designate the princesses 
according to their age. If you reply correctly he 
will decide in your favor." 

Carefully pondering the words of Feridoon, the 
three princes set out on the long journey to Yemen, 
escorted by numerous warriors clad in glittering 
mail. When Serv, king of Yemen, learned that 
they had entered the borders of his dominion, he 
sent forward a troop of his bravest chieftains to ac- 
company them to his capital ; and when the princely 
brothers entered the gates of the city, all the people 
came forth sprinkling them with amber and saffron, 
and pouring out wine scented with musk. The 
manes of the steeds were fragrant with sweet odors, 
and they trod upon coins of gold scattered broad- 
cast over the pavement. The palace was decorated 
like paradise ; the bricks of its walls were covered 
with silver and gold and hung with embroideries of 
price. 

Here the king of Yemen received the princes and 
as Feridoon had predicted, he now brought his three 
daughters hither, glowing in their beauty. They 
were seated exactly in the order the king of Persia had 
foretold, and the king of Yemen then asked : " which 
of these stars is the youngest, which is the second, 



FEKIDOON. 1 5 

and which the eldest?" The princes replied as they 
had been advised by their father, and thus at one 
stroke warded off the wiles of enchantment. Serv, 
the king of Yemen, and his nobles were astounded. 
He perceived that artifice was of no avail to keep 
his daughters at home, and he awarded them, ac- 
cording to their ages, to the three princes. After con- 
versing a while as to the future and the plans of their 
lives, the three sisters arose and retired to their 
apartments, blushing with mortification at the dis- 
comfiture of their father. 

After this event, being still unresigned to giving 
up his lovely daughters, Serv ordered wine to be 
brought and singers to enliven the watches of the 
night, and when the three brothers yielded to the 
wine and fell asleep, he caused them to be laid on 
couches by the side of a fountain of rose-water, un- 
der the stars, where the roses diffused balm over 
their slumber. And then the king retired and, 
master-magician as he was, devised enchantments 
that would relieve him of the sad necessity of losing 
his daughters. He caused a great cold and a pierc- 
ing wind to arise, and a frost able to kill the flowers 
of the gardens, hoping that in their sleep the princes 
might be frozen to death. But instead of this they 
were awaked by the terrible cold, and by their 
superior intelligence at once divined the cause of 
this change in the weather, and thus they took 
means to resist and overcome the treachery to 
which they had been exposed. 

When the sun burst above the mountain tops, the 
royal magician flew to the garden expecting to find 



1 6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the three princes stiff and stark and dead, and thus 
his daughters would be left to comfort him in his 
old age. But he found the brothers seated on their 
couches blooming and alive, and perceived at last 
that against them no arts of his magic could avail. 

Then the king of Yemen ordered his halls of 
audience to be prepared and the nobles of his realm 
to assemble. And there, too, came the three maidens, 
who, had hitherto dwelt in seclusion ; they were 
adorned with crowns and jewels, and until now had 
never known sorrow. Never yet had trouble touched 
their fair, dark tresses. And there he bestowed the 
three treasures of his heart on the three princes. 
But in the bitterness of his soul he said : " It is not 
Feridoon who is the cause of my grief, but I myself. 
Know that he who hath no daughters shall be spared 
the pain of parting with them." Then he said to 
the wise men of the kingdom: " Kings are worthy 
to be husbands of stars like these. Know that I 
have given my beloved daughters to these princes, 
according to our rites and customs, to cherish and 
love them like their own souls." 

Then the order went forth to prepare all things 
agreeably for the journey of the sisters to their new 
home. The king spared no trouble nor expense nor 
gifts that would add to the comfort of the journey 
of his daughters. Litters carefully arranged for 
them were placed on the backs of strong camels, 
and when all was in readiness the king of Yemen 
bade farewell to his children and returned alone to 
his palace, while they started forth with the three 
princes on the long journey to Persia. 



FERIDOON. 1 7 

When Feridoon learned that his sons were return- 
ing successful, he went forth to meet them. Anxious 
to put their courage to the test, he took the shape 
of a terrible dragon, roaring and vomiting flames, 
and attacked the eldest of the brothers. But the 
prince said to himself : " A prudent man fighteth 
not with dragons," and turned and fled. Then the 
dragon flew at the other brothers ; and the second 
brother said : " What matters it whether it be a 
dragon or a warrior?" and he drew his bow ; but the 
youngest son tarried not afar, but full of fire and 
fury rushed at the dragon, crying : " Flee from our 
presence, for we are the sons of Feridoon, lions that 
it is fatal for thee to resist ! " 

Feridoon having thus divined the characters of the 
three princes, vanished. But having resumed his 
former shape, he advanced to meet them with great 
pomp, and returned thanks to the All-giver for their 
safe and happy return. On arriving at the palace 
he summoned the brothers in to his presence and 
informed them of the ruse he had practised. He 
rejoiced at the opportunity he had seized of testing 
their characters, and now for the first time did 
Feridoon give names to his sons suited to the 
opinion he had formed of them. The eldest he 
called Selm, the next he called Tour, and the young- 
est Iredj. As he named them in turn he invoked 
for each the blessing of God. 

After this ceremony Feridoon consulted the horo- 
scope to divine the destiny of his sons. He learned 
that the two eldest were destined to success and re- 
nown, but Iredj, the youngest and best beloved. 



15 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

although possessed of such brilliant qualities, was 
doomed to misfortune and a tragical end. Feridoon, 
deeply pained by this declaration, now proceeded 
to divide the government of his vast empire among 
the three brothers. To Selm was awarded the do- 
minion of the western portion, and to Tour the 
eastern provinces reaching even to China; this 
division of Asia has, since this event, been called 
after him Touran. But notwithstanding that the 
stars were adverse to the destiny of Iredj, Feridoon 
selected him as the ablest to preside over the heart 
of the empire, or Persia itself. 

The brothers took charge of the reins of govern- 
ment, and years passed on during which the empire 
was at peace. But Feridoon was growing old and 
full of years, and in proportion as their father became 
feeble the two eldest brothers became jealous of 
their brother Iredj, who was destined to take" prece- 
dence of them on the death of Feridoon. Consulting- 
together they wickedly conspired and sent an in- 
sulting message to Feridoon, demanding that Iredj 
be deprived of the throne of Iran, and declaring that 
if this were not done, they would together lead an 
invasion into Persia for the purpose of destroying 
Iredj and razing the capital to the ground. This 
haughty message was borne to Feridoon by a herald 
mounted on a swift dromedary. 

Entering a palace whose towers arose toward 
heaven, and awed by the pomp and magnificence of 
the royal abode, the herald was admitted to the 
presence of Feridoon, who was seated on his lofty 
throne, proud and venerable, with a snow-white beard 




KING SLAYS EVIL GENIUS. 
SCULPTURE AT PERSEPOLIS. 



19 



20 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

reaching to his waist. The monarch graciously in- 
quired after the health of his royal sons, and whether 
they continued- true to the faith of their fathers and 
enjoyed prosperity and peace in their borders. The 
envoy replied : " O glorious king, live forever on 
thy throne of splendor ! I, the unworthy slave of a 
king, bring unwillingly to the emperor a hard mes- 
sage ; he who sends it is responsible, but I am in- 
nocent. I will repeat, with the king's permission, 
these inconsiderate words." Feridoon replied : 
"Speak on." He listened attentively, and his soul 
kindled with fury. He sent a message in reply to his 
sons, advising them to repent without delay from the 
rebellious course they had chosen. 

After this, Feridoon communicated the matter to 
his beloved son Iredj ; he informed him that in 
this world we can look for no defenders unless we 
are prepared to defend surselves, and that his inno- 
cence and rights were a strong armor to him. Homer 
uttered the same sentiment in the Iliad when he 
said : " Thrice armed is he whose cause is just." 
Feridoon advised Iredj to collect an army and 
prepare to resist the attack of his brothers, and prom- 
ised him all the resources of the empire in the 
conflict. 

But Iredj replied that it was the desire of his life 
to imitate the noble example of his royal father ; to 
do good and not evil was his aim ; he did not care 
for glory and power at the expense of bloodshed, 
nor did he seek fratricidal strife. Instead of resort- 
ing to arms, therefore, he asked the permission of 
Feridoon to go to meet his brothers Tour and Selm, 



FERIDOON. 2 1 

attended only by a few retainers, hoping by words of 
friendship and peace to abate their jealousy and 
hate. Finding Iredj firm in his purpose, Feridoon 
granted the request, but with gloomy forebodings. 
He gave him a letter-royal for Tour and Selm, and 
then Iredj set forth on his journey, strong in the jus- 
tice of his cause and the purity of his motives. The 
two brothers were in council surrounded by a great 
army, when Iredj approached without suspicion of 
impending danger. He met them with a counte- 
nance showing brotherly affection and kindness ; but 
they received him with lowering looks. The hate of 
the two brothers was deepened when they saw their 
troops gazing with admiration on the noble bearing 
of their younger brother. They upbraided him 
with usurping, as they said, the throne of Persia. 
He replied that the right had been conferred on him 
unsolicited by their royal sire Feridoon. But rather 
than be the cause of war and blood he would will- 
ingly resign his rights to them. This generous 
reply, instead of allaying only increased the wicked 
fury of the two brothers. Tour drew a dagger and 
smote Iredj to the heart. The brothers then em- 
balmed the head of their poor victim, and sent it 
with an insulting message to their aged father 
Feridoon. 

Anxiously looking for the return of Iredj, the old 
monarch had the walls of his palace re-adorned to 
give him a joyous welcome home. Musicians and 
dancing-women and banquets were in readiness for 
the happy occasion. But Feridoon, watching from 
the saddle at the head of his expectant army, only 



22 THE STORY OF PERSTA. 

discovered a solitary dromedary coming from the 
dusty horizon, and a rider with sorrowful eyes. The 
rider bore a case of gold which he presented to the 
king. With a grim presentiment be caused the case 
of gold to be opened. They took thence a cloth of 
silk, and when the silk was unrolled the aged mon- 
arch looked on the head of his beloved son. Feri- 
doon fell from his horse in a swoon. When he 
came to his senses again he returned to the city on 
foot, followed by his army lamenting, and with ban- 
ners rent in twain. 

Pressing the head of Iredj to his bosom, the old 
man bent his steps to the now forsaken palace of 
Iredj. After invoking the curse of the All-just 
upon the slayers of his son, Feridoon threw himself 
on the grass, and with locks wet with dew lay night 
after night under the stars, and all the land wept 
and bemoaned the sorrow which had come on the 
great king. 

Although their father was old, yet Tour and Selm 
dared not lead an open revolt against him, for he 
was still a hero, and in his despair was a danger- 
ous foe. And soon a son was born to Iredj by his 
favorite wife, Mahaferid. He was named Minout- 
chehr. But when Tour and Selm heard that the son 
of Iredj was a manly youth, who would in time seek 
to avenge the murder of his father, they devised a 
scheme to get him into their power. A messenger 
was sent by them to Feridoon, bearing rich gifts and 
words of deep remorse for the cruel assassination of 
Iredj. In token of their repentance they now begged 
Feridoon to send to them Minoutchehr, the son of 



FERIDOON. 2$ 

Iredj, who should receive from them ample amends 
for the wrong done to his father. But the aged 
king discerned the craft and wickedness of the 
brothers. He bade the messenger return and say 
to them that they should not again have it in 
their power to deceive him, but to prepare for the 
sure retribution that awaited them. Conscience- 
stricken, and well knowing the power of Persia, the 
brothers made ready their forces to repel the vast 
host which Minoutchehr was leading against them. 
The young hero had inherited the wisdom of Feri- 
doon and the virtues of Iredj, and the leathern 
standard of Kaweh, resplendent with jewels, which 
never yet had recoiled before the foe, was carried 
before them. His heart was nerved, too, with a 
stern resolve to destroy the murderers of his father. 
Victory attended the arms of Minoutchehr. Tour 
was first defeated and slain, and after him Selm was 
completely overthrown, and his head was cut off by 
the redoubtable sword of Minoutchehr. 

Having seen his son avenged, Feridoon, the great 
and good king, descended in turn to the tomb, old 
and full of years, and Minoutchehr succeeded him 
on the throne. 

The greatest poet of Persia has beautifully said : 
" Feridoon the glorious was not an angel ; he was 
not made of musk and amber; it was by his justice 
and his generosity that he won his great renown. 
Be just and generous, and thou shalt be like 
Feridoon." 





iw/B<^fe^a^^ 


.■ .'."ij.'^-';'", V0, 


||S 




s%^C^Sb 


KHsyi 


Bffjjfeg^^-^ 



II. 



ZAL, 



WHEN Minoutchehr assumed the crown of the 
dynasty of the Kei'anides, he announced his intention 
to reign over his vast dominions with humanity and 
justice, and as a servant of God, the ruler of the uni- 
verse. In the name of all the nobles assembled on 
this august occasion, the great Pehlevan or warrior 
Sahm, the son of Neriman, arose and promised their 
allegiance and aid in all the plans and enterprises 
which the young monarch should undertake for the 
good of his subjects. 

The nobles then dispersed, and Sahm returned to 
Seistan, the hereditary province which was under 
his control. The house of Sahm is perhaps the most 
celebrated in the legends of Persia, and had vast in- 
fluence in shaping her destinies. It is therefore a 
pleasure to give here a narrative of the many ro- 
mantic events and heroic characters which marked 
the career of the great family of Sahm, the son of 
Neriman. It came to pass, after the return of Sahm 
to Seistan, that a son was born to him of extraordi- 
nary beauty. But although Sahm had longed for a 
son to perpetuate the line, yet for seven days no one 
dared announce to the father that a son was born to 

24 



him, for the hair of the infant was white. All" the 
women of the household were in tears, for they 
dreaded the result when Sahm should learn of the 
white hair of his child, — such an unfortunate omen is 
it considered in Persia to have light hair and blue 
eyes. 

At last a nurse was found of courage sufficient to 
enter the father's presence, who, after saying, 
" May the years of Sahm the hero be happy, and 
may the heart of his enemies be rent asunder! " pro- 
ceeded to tell him of the little son that was in the 
apartments of the women. Sahm followed her hither 
but when the curtain was raised and he saw that the 
fair infant was white-haired, his senses seemed to 
depart from him with horror at what he deemed 
an ill-portent to his fortunes, he dreaded also the 
mockery of men when they should hear of it. 
Nothing could appease his rage. He doomed the 
poor infant to be exposed on the summit of the 
Elborz mountains. But a great bird, called the 
Simurgh, had its nest there, and when it heard the 
wailings of the child, the bird tenderly lifted him 
from the rocks, and carried him to its nest, and fed 
him on tender venison until he grew to manhood, 
hardy and well-formed. But Sahm had a dream, 
which the mobeds, or wise men, interpreted to mean 
that his son was still alive on the Elborz, and that, 
after asking the forgiveness of Heaven for his cruelty 
to his son, it was his duty to reclaim and bring him 
home from the wild eyrie of the Simurgh. 

Sahm listened to the words of the mobeds. He 
hastened to the Elborz and found his son dwelling 



26 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



on the pinnacles of the mountain. From the foot of 
the inaccessible rock Sahm beheld his son, a youth of 
heroic mould, standing on the nest of the Simurgh 
and gazing like a king over the world. But there 
was no way to reach him, and while Sahm was im- 
patiently searching for a means to communicate with 
his son, the Simurgh beheld the father and divined 
for what purpose he had come. He told the youth, 
who yet knew nothing of men, that the hour had 
come for him to return to his native land ; the 
faithful bird plucked a feather from its plumage 
and bade the youth carry it with him ; in after life, 
if sore beset by trouble, he was to throw the feather 
into the fire, and immediately the Simurgh would 
come to his aid and show him a way out of the diffi- 
culty. Then it took him on its wings and bore him 
to his father. Sahm received his son with joy ; he 
begged him to forgive his early sin in exposing him, 
and bestowed on him the name Zal-Zer. The 
cymbals and the kettle-drums of the army pealed a 
welcome, and, clad in purple and mounted upon a 
noble steed, the youth returned, crowned with honors, 
to the palace from which .he had been driven a naked 
and wailing infant. 

After these events King Minoutchehr ordered Sahm 
to march with an army against the rebels who had 
arisen in the north of Persia. Sahm constituted Zal 
the governor of Seistan during his absence. Zal 
found this a fit opportunity to make the acquaintance 
of some of his neighbors, and, among others, visited 
Mihrab, the king of Kabool. He was tributary to 
Minoutchehr, but owing to his being connected with 



zal. 27 

the line of Zohak, the deposed tyrant and usurper, 
there seems to have been little cordiality between 
the king of Persia and his feudatory viceroy, Mihrab. 
While at Kabool, Zal learned of the extraordinary 
beauty and accomplishments of Roodabeh, the 
daughter of Mihrab and Sindocht. Roodabeh like- 
wise heard her maidens sing of the manly virtues of 
Zal, the son of Sahm, the son of Neriman. The result 
can easily be foreseen ; they were a pair worthy of 
each other ; and without having yet met, were 
already madly in love. The maidens of Roodabeh 
contrived to inform the young hero of the state 
of the feelings of their mistress towards him, and a 
secret interview was planned. It may be asked why 
such secrecy between a prince and princess of equal 
rank? but her descent from the house of Zohak 
made it highly improbable that either the king of 
Persia or Mihrab would consent to their union. 

When Zal arrived at the foot of the tower where 
Roodabeh was awaiting him, his difficulties only be- 
gan. The gates were closed, and he had no ladder. 
The maiden loosened the long tresses, of which she 
had such store, and, leaning out of the window, bade 
him raise himself by her hair. But he unloosed the 
lasso, which the warriors of Persia used so skilfully 
in those times and flung it over one of the battle- 
ments instead, and thus he was able to pull himself up 
to the top of the wall. But Mihrab and Sindocht were 
filled with wrath when they learned of the secret 
interviews of the lovers, and utterly forbade all hope 
of their marriage. Fortunately it occurred to Zal 
in this predicament to lay the whole matter before 



28 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Sahm, his father, in a letter sent by a swift messenger. 
The matter appeared of such importanceto Sahm that 
he called his wise men before him to give him their 
advice, for such was his love for his son that he did 
not wish hastily to decide against the ardent hopes 
of the young viceroy. The wise men consulted the 
stars long and carefully ; they returned to Sahm with 
smiling countenances and announced that a happy 
issue was destined for the marriage of Zal and 
Roodabeh ; and Sahm caused gold and silver to be 
bounteously distributed to the wise men, for their 
decision had given his troubled heart repose. 

When the good tidings that Sahm had given his 
consent was received, Roodabeh caused the woman 
who brought the news to her to be showered with 
coins of gold, and ordered her to be clothed in 
new vestments. But Mihrab was furious on learn- 
ing this decision, desiring no alliance between the 
line of Zohak and the race of Persia. 

Word of these transactions also came to the ear of 
King Minoutchehr ; although greatly disturbed at 
the possibility of any of the race of Zohak regaining 
influence in Iran, yet he decided to act with modera- 
tion and wisdom. But reflection only increased his 
wrath against Mihrab, who seemed to him to be 
subtly acting in such a way as once more to bring 
Persia under the ' hated influence of the house of 
Zohak. Forthwith he ordered Sahm to return with 
his victorious troops from the north, and march 
against and overthrow and destroy Mihrab and all 
his family. It was as Mihrab had foreseen. The love 
of Zal and Roodabeh seemed about to prove his 




REPRESENTATIONS OF PERSIAN MYTHOLOGY, FROM AN ANCIENT 
2 9 RECORD. 



30 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

destruction. When Zal heard of the approach of 
Sahm, he swore a loud oath that even if a dragon 
breathing fire were to come against Kabool, they 
must first cleave off his own head before he could 
capture the place. And then he went forth to meet 
his father, confident in the promise that Sahm had 
given, to permit the marriage of Zal and Roodabeh. 

When Zal entered the presence of Sahm, he saluted 
him with all honor, and in passionate but respectful 
terms upbraided him forthe course he was taking. He 
reminded his father that, when he was an infant, he 
had exposed him on the top of a mountain, regard- 
less, that it is God who giveth black hairs and white, 
and had left him to be sustained by the mercies of a 
wild bird of the peaks, to whom indeed he was more 
indebted for life than to him. And, now that his 
son had reached years of manhood and lived a true 
life, again it was the father who, in spite of his 
promise, was thwarting him and bringing sorrow to 
his heart by seeking to destroy Kabool, where Zal 
sojourned and was happy. 

Sahm listened attentively, and acknowledging the 
justice of what Zal had said, replied that a remedy 
must be found to settle the difficult question with 
which he had to deal. He decided to send Zal him- 
self to King Minoutchehr, with a letter, there to 
plead his own cause with the stern but not un- 
reasoning monarch. While Zal was gone on his 
hazardous errand, Sahm and his army reposed amid 
the vineyards and rose-gardens of the well-watered 
land where they were encamped. Swift as arrows 
from the bow the impatient young lover and his 



ZAL. 3 1 

attendant warriors flew over mountain and plain, 
until their panting- steeds brought them to the lordly 
gates of Persia's capital. 

While these events were occurring, Mihrab was 
filled with rage and anxiety, for the large army of 
Persia, under the redoubtable chieftain Sahm, was on 
his borders, and he expected daily to be attacked 
and destroyed by an overwhelming host. Thus 
brooding, Mihrab vented his fury on his wife Sin- 
docht, and their lovely daughter Roodabeh. To 
appease her husband, and perhaps save her life and 
her daughter's, Sindocht offered herself to carry a 
present, composed of the most valued treasures of 
Kabool, to Sahm, and urge him to treat them kirfdly. 
It was no small thing for a princess to go thus to 
the camp of an enemy. But the result proved favor- 
able, for Sahm not only received her graciously, but 
also, in the name of Zal, accepted the magnificent 
presents she brought. He bade her return reassured 
to Kabool, saying : " Let not your heart be troubled, 
for all will end according to your desires." 

Immediately on arriving at the court, Zal was sum- 
moned to an audience of King Minoutchehr, who 
received him graciously. After reading the letter 
of Sahm, the king smiled, and said : " Although this 
is a question which arouses my fears of future diffi- 
culties, yet all that you desire shall be granted." 

After this a royal banquet was served, with dishes 
of silver and gold, on a table covered with beaten 
gold. Minoutchehr invited Zal and the great nobles 
of the court to sit with him ; after the banquet, wine 
was brought in another hall, and the feasting con- 



32 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

tinued until late. Then Zal mounted his steed and 
returned to his quarters, leaving the king well pleased 
with the bearing of his young and noble subject. 
At early morning, according to the custom of a 
warm country like Persia, King Minoutchehr seated 
himself again on his throne, and the nobles and 
warriors gathered before him to consult of the affairs 
of the empire. On this occasion the king com- 
manded the mobeds, or wise men of Persia, to put 
Zal to a supreme ordeal. The ordeal consisted of five 
riddles, proposed in poetic language and requiring a 
high degree of intelligence for their solution. Zal 
acquitted himself with such success that the king of 
kings himself condescended to express his gratifica- 
tion, and ordered another banquet to be served. 

At the audience of the following morning Zal 
respectfully requested the king's permission to depart. 
But Minoutchehr replied that a final test of the mer- 
its of Zal must yet occur. He must have an exhibition 
of the athletic skill and heroism of the young warrior 
before he could grant a free permission to his re- 
quest. The champions of the empire were sum- 
moned to meet on the grand square before the palace, 
to compete with Zal. It was a severe test, and many 
a time, doubtless, the heart of the hero trembled 
with dread lest he should fall short of the approval 
of the monarch, and thus fail of winning his bride. 
But in the exercises with the bow, the javelin, and 
the mace, and in exhibitions of horsemanship, Zal 
outstripped every competitor, and by the remarkable 
feats of his skill and strength and courage, aroused 
the amazement of the king and the entire court. 



zal. 33 

Minoutchehr blessed Zal, and ordered his servants 
to spread before him a truly noble present of 
ornaments of gold and gems, of slaves and horses, 
and all manner of precious things ; and Zal bowed to 
the earth before the king, and kissed his feet. And 
Minoutchehr condescended to write a letter to Sahm 
full of graciousness, and informing him that he had 
granted all the wishes of his great son Zal. 

Swift messengers were sent in advance to announce 
the return of Zal to Kabool, and Mihrab and Sin- 
docht caused their palace to be gloriously adorned 
and prepared for the marriage of Zal and Roodabeh. 
For seven days the wedding festivities continued. 
At the end the horses and the camels were made 
ready, and Roodabeh, blooming and happy, accom- 
panied her bridegroom to the bowers of Seistan. In 
due season a son was born to Zal and Roodabeh. 
At his birth Zal threw the feather given him by the 
Simurgh into the fire, and the Simurgh appeared ; by 
her aid the infant had a happy entrance into life. 
He proved to be a child of wonderful size and 
beauty, and they called him Rustem. Before return- 
ing to the mountain eyrie, the Simurgh blessed the 
infant, predicting for him a long and glorious career, 
and again left one of her feathers for use in case 
another time of need should come to the house of 
Sahm. 



»* '^fiiB 




stss£** 


SlBll 




ffi 


S 


go 


3 


jflll 



III. 

RUSTEM. 

We head this chapter with the name of the great 
hero of Persia, because during four reigns he was 
engaged in all the leading events which occurred in 
that country. By his powerful arm her monarchs 
were strengthened on the throne, or rescued from 
the difficulties in which their own follies had thrown 
them ; by his prowess the enemies of Iran were 
over and over again repelled from her borders. The 
mighty deeds of Rustem and his noble charger 
Raksch have made an indelible impression on the 
legends of Persia, and his name has rung over many 
a battle-field since then as a watchword of triumph. 

Although it does not appear from the legends that 
there was a formal division of the Persian empire 
after Minoutchehr succeeded to the throne of his 
grandfather Feridoon, yet we are left to infer that 
the somewhat loose bonds that united the provinces 
to the parent country gradually became without 
force, notwithstanding the victories of Minoutchehr 
over Selm and Tour. The regions under the 
sceptre of Tour, which are now called by the gen- 
eral name of Tartary, began to be called Touran, 
and came under the rule of Afrasiab, who, during a 

34 



I? U STEM. 35 

long reign, waged terrible wars with Persia, in which 
the victory was sometimes on one side and some- 
times on the other. In these wars it was that Rus- 
tem was chiefly engaged. 

The first exploit of Rustem was the capture of 
Sipend. This was a place situated on a steep emi- 
nence, and impregnable ; it was guarded by a strong 
garrison. The young warrior hid a number of his 
braves in cases, such as were used for carrying salt, 
and loaded them on camels. In the guise of a 
camel-driver, Rustem led the caravan to the gates. 
To the demand as to what was on the camels, the 
reply was, salt. As the people of the beleaguered 
town were in need of this article, the governor gladly 
admitted the caravan. From the fact that more 
care was not taken to ascertain the character of the 
loads, it is evident that stratagem was not often re- 
sorted to in the wars of that period. The people, 
gladly welcomed the supply of salt, but as it was now 
toward night the opening of the cases was deferred 
until the following days, and the people gave them- 
selves up to feasting. But when the town was 
asleep, Rustem arose at dead of night and released 
his companions, and a furious attack on the garrison 
at once began. A furious fight in the streets.resulted 
in the slaughter of the governor and the greater part 
of the people in Sipend. On the return of Rustem 
to Seistan, his mother, Roodabeh, clasped him to 
her arms, and with motherly pride gave him her 
blessing; but when Sahm heard the tidings he 
bestowed a robe of honor and a steed of price on 
the herald who brought the good news. 



36 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

About this time King Minoutchehr died and 
was succeeded by his son Newder, who began his 
reign by such injustice and tyranny that the nobles 
revolted. In this crisis of affairs Newder called 
upon Sahm to render assistance in restoring order to 
the kingdom. Sahm obeyed the summons of a sov- 
ereign whom in his heart he could only regard with 
contempt, and returned home from the wars in which 
he was engaged. On the way he was met by the 
nobles of Persia, who, loudly complaining of the tyr- 
anny of Newder, offered the crown to Sahm, who 
was now old and venerated by all. But the hero 
who for so long a period had faithfully served his 
country, was not at the last to prove unfaithful to 
his duty. Sahm sternly declined the proffered 
honor ; instead of this, he proceeded to advise the 
nobles to return to their allegiance, and gave King 
Newder some wise counsel, which for a time had 
some effect. But after this the kingdom of Persia 
was invaded by Afrasiab, who defeated Newder and 
captured him in a severe battle. Afrasiab put his 
royal prisoner to death, which was doubtless an ad- 
vantage to Persia in one respect, for it freed her 
from the authority of a sovereign ill-fitted to com- 
mand her destinies. 

Zal now came to the rescue of the throne, and in- 
stead of retaining it for himself, as it appears he might 
have done, placed on it, instead, a collateral descend- 
ant of Feridoon, named Zeff, who for five years ruled 
wisely, and somewhat restored Persia after her mis- 
fortunes. He was succeeded by Guerschap, who had 
immediately to repel an invasion of the Turks of 



RUSTEM. 37 

Touran, under the redoubtable monarch Afrasiab. 
It was in this campaign that Rustem, who now first 
entered into a great war, rode his famous roan 
charger Raksch. From a large troop of horses he 
selected this noble colt, threw a lasso over his head, 
and mounted him in spite of the fierce struggles of 
the dam, who proudly sought to protect her off- 
spring from the saddle. 

Guerschap died childless during this campaign, 
and Persia was again without a king. Rustem was 
immediately despatched to summon a chieftain of 
the house of Feridoon who dwelt in concealment 
near the Elborz mountains, to ascend the throne. 
His name was Keikobad. The young king imme- 
diately took the head of his army and led his host 
against the invaders. Rustem performed prodigies 
of valor, and Afrasiab was forced to sue for peace. 
But the glorious reign of Keikobad was of short du- 
ration. He died at his capital, Istakhar, better 
known in other lands by the name of Persepolis, and 
was succeeded by Ke'i Kaoos, who reigned for many 
years, but proved himself a weak and capricious 
monarch, who might have ruined the empire he had 
inherited but for the powerful support of Rustem 
and other chieftains of renown. 

Ke'i Kaoos began his reign by undertaking an ill- 
advised war with the hardy mountaineers of Mazan- 
deran, as it is called in Persia, but known in our 
histories as Hyrcania. From the time of Shah 
Djemsheed, the kings of Persia had been engaged in 
indecisive conflicts with the people of that region, 
who, in their mountain fastnesses, could resist the 



38 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 




strongest armies. Kei Kaoos thought that his own in- 
experienced arm could wage war against Mazanderan 
unaided by the great leaders of his armies. But he 
found his mistake to his cost, for he was surrounded 
by the mountaineers and was 
forced to send swift mes- 
sengers to Zal and Rustem to 
hasten to his rescue. Rapid- 
ly collecting an army, father 
and son urged their forces 
northward, and after much 
severe fighting succeeded in 
extracting Kei Kaoos out of 
the predicament in which his 
folly had brought him. In this 
anahita, or Persian venus. war Rustem distinguished 
himself especially by several great exploits which in 
the legends of Persia are called the seven adventures 
of Rustem. The chief of these adventures seems to 
have been the overthrow of the Deeve Sefeed, or 
White Demon, a name the Persians applied to a 
tribe of unusual ferocity, who, from their light com- 
plexions and hair, received the title of white. 

Having been delivered from this great peril, Kei 
Kaoos decided to set out on a journey through his 
dominions with great pomp, attended by an immense 
train of warriors, nobles, wives, and slaves, and with 
the music of trumpets and cymbals and drums, ex- 
actly as the monarchs of Persia have been accus- 
tomed to take their journeys from that time to this 
day. But while the king of Persia was engaged in 
these pageants, word came to him, like a flash of 



RUSTEM. 39 

lightning out of a clear sky, that the people of Syria, 
on the borders of the Mediterranean, one of the 
provinces of Kaoos, had revolted under the leader- 
ship of a powerful chieftain, who had declared his 
independence of Persia. With an immense army, 
Kei Kaoos marched against the rebels, and gra- 
ciously granted pardon to the satrap who had re- 
belled. But he demanded, as a condition of peace, 
the daughter of the king of Syria, whose name was 
Soudabeh. Her father was reluctant to part with 
his only daughter, but Soudabeh was of an ambitious 
nature, and gladly availed herself of the opportunity 
to become queen of a monarch who at that time was 
the most powerful sovereign in the world. After 
seven days' feasting, Soudabeh was sent to King 
Kei Kaoos, attended by six hundred slaves, and of 
camels, mules, and horses one thousand each, laden 
with treasures beyond computation ; the princess 
herself was mounted on a glittering litter, and all 
manner of perfumes loaded the air about the royal 
train. Thus a bloody war was followed by the tri- 
umphs of love. 

But the king of Hamaveram, or Syria, had yielded 
his daughter to Kaoos with great sadness and re- 
luctance. And after she had gone to the camp of 
Kaoos, he devised a stratagem for regaining posses- 
sion of his child. In pursuance of this design, the 
king of Syria sent an invitation to Kaoos, his son-in- 
law, to accept of a banquet in the halls of Syria's 
king. But when Soudabeh heard of this, she urged 
her royal bridegroom to decline the invitation, as 
she divined that her father meant no good by the 



40 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

proposal. But Kaoos would not be convinced, 
having, after his easy victory over the Syrians, 
formed a mean opinion of their courage to dare any 
further attacks against him. The result was as 
Soudabeh had predicted. After several days of 
feasting in the capital of Syria, seeing the suspicions 
of his guest lulled by the bounteousness of his hos- 
pitality, the king of Syria commanded Ke'i Kaoos 
and his chief warriors to be seized and thrown bound 
into the dark dungeons of a fortress which stood on 
the pinnacles of an impregnable height. Happily, 
Zal and Rustem were not present at the time. A 
band of veiled women was then ordered by the king 
of Syria to bring his daughter from the camp to his 
palace. But Soudabeh, with wild reproaches for the 
treachery her father had shown, demanded to be led 
to her husband. Furious that she now preferred her 
husband to a father who doted on her, the king of 
Syria permitted her to share the captivity of Kaoos. 

Great was the confusion that everywhere broke 
forth in Persia when the tidings spread that her king 
was enchained in a dungeon. On all sides was heard 
the clangor of arms. The king of Syria, on the one 
hand, led an army into that unhappy country to sub- 
jugate it, while from the opposite direction, like an in- 
undation, the hordes of Touran, led by the implacable 
enemy of Persia, Afrasiab, burst over the borders, 
defeated the Syrians, and made a conquest of Persia. 

Once more did the Persians have recourse to the 
great house of Seistan, and Zal and Rustem were 
summoned by the popular voice to redeem their 
land from its chains. Rustem sent a secret mes- 
senger, who in disguise found his way to the dungeon 



RUSTEM. 



41 



of Kei Kaoos, and bade him keep up good courage, 
for a great army was coming to his rescue. Another 
messenger was sent 
to the king of Ham- 
averam, summoning 
him to yield up the 
royal prisoner he 
had won by treach- 
ery, or prepare for 
the destruction that 
awaited him when 
Rustem should ap- 
pear at the head of 
an invincible host. 

The king of Ham- 
averam sent back re- 
ply that never again 
should Kei Kaoos 
step forth from his 
dungeon, and that 
he was ready to hurl 
back Rustem and 
his army. As the 
frontiers of the king 
of Hamaveram ex- 
tended as far as the 
blue sea we call the 
Indian Ocean, and 
the way was long by 
land, Rustem embarked his forces on a fleet of 
galleys and succeeded thus in reaching the country 
of the enemy safely. The sequel may be foreseen, 
for Rustem was there ; and hardly had the combat 




AHRIMAZDAO. 



42 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

begun when the enemy fled in dismay before Rustem 
and his redoubtable charger. But the king of Ham- 
averam sent swift runners to his neighbors the kings 
of Egypt and Barbary, beseeching their aid. They 
answered his appeal, but the same result followed 
in the great battle they fought with Rustem. The 
king of Hamaveram was forced to sue for peace, and 
restored Ke'i* Kaoos and his warriors to liberty, to- 
gether with Soudabeh. Thus once more had 
Rustem proved the savior of his country and king. 
In addition to this success, Rustem compelled the 
king of Hamaveram and his allies to furnish two 
hundred thousand men to aid Ke'i Kaoos to expel 
Afrasiab from Persia. Heralds were also sent to 
demand the assistance of Greek auxiliaries in the 
great contest that was now close at hand. 

Having completed the arrangements for recover- 
ing his throne, Ke'i Kaoos sent a royal letter to 
Afrasiab ordering him to abandon Persia without 
delay. Afrasiab turned pale with rage and sent a 
haughty and insulting reply. In the campaign which 
followed, the great Rustem once more led his troops 
to victory, and Afrasiab and his armies were expelled 
from Persia with great slaughter. For some years 
after these events Ke'i Kaoos devoted himself to re- 
storing his dominions to their former prosperity, hav- 
ing apparently profited by the hard lessons of mis- 
fortune. Among other works, he caused several 
magnificent palaces to be built, and this seems to have 
been an important era in the progress of architecture 
in Persia. Ke'i Kaoos had once more reached a lofty 
pinnacle of power and splendor, but the hero of his 
reign who had reaped the glory of the wars was Rustem. 



IV. 



SOHRAB. 



In his early adventures in the north, Rustem once 
on a time came to the capital of the feudatory king 
of Semenjan. While he was asleep in the meadows 
his horse Raksch strayed away and Rustem pro- 
ceeded to Semenjan in hope of finding him there. 
There he learned that Raksch had been found by 
some of the servants of the king and was stabled at 
Semenjan as he had surmised. But when about to 
depart, Rustem yielded to the urgent invitation of 
the king to tarry awhile and rest himself in feasting 
and repose. He little thought of the results that 
would follow his visit to Semenjan. But his experi- 
ence was that of many. The most trifling incidents 
often give occasion to events of far reaching import- 
ance. 

The king of Semenjan had a fair daughter named 
Tehmimeh. She had heard of the great Rustem — 
and who had not, for the fame of his exploits and 
his virtue and grandeur of soul had already spread 
far and wide, although he was yet in early man- 
hood. Susceptible as she was beautiful, the noble 
maiden of Semenjan made her preference so evident 
that the young hero, who was ardent as he was 

43 



44 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

brave, readily yielded to the power of her fascina- 
tions. The consent of the king of Semenjan having 
been obtained, Rustem and Tehmimeh were married 
with all the rights prescribed by law. A peculiar 
feature of this alliance, of which the results will ap- 
pear further on, lay in the fact that the king of 
Semenjan was feudatory to Afrasiab the deadly 
enemy of Persia, while Rustem was her greatest 
champion. At the period of this event the two 
countries were at peace. 

But the hour came when Rustem must leave his 
blooming bride for awhile at least. Before he bade 
her farewell, to return to his home far in the south, 
he gave her an onyx which he wore on his arm, bid- 
ding her, if she should have a daughter from their 
union, to twine the gem among the tresses of the 
child under a fortunate star. But if the child should 
prove to be a boy, he bade her bind the onyx to his 
arm as his father had worn it, predicting for him a 
glorious career. With many sighs and tears 
Tehmimeh parted from Rustem, and then he mount- 
ed Raksch and returned to Seistan. 

The months went by, and then to the lonely bride 
of Rustem was born a son, large and handsome ; his 
eyes and his mouth were lit with a smile when he 
was born, and so his mother called him Sohrab. 
She sent word to Rustem that a child was born from 
their love, but she told him it was a girl, lest when 
the boy grew older his father should send for him, 
and thus rob her of her treasure. In the East, strange 
as it may seem, boys are more prized than girls. 

All these incidents indicate an age when Persia and 



SOHRAB. 45 

the neighboring lands were thinly peopled, and com- 
munications between different districts were rare and 
tardy. 

While still of tender years, Sohrab showed signs of 
his noble lineage. He quickly displayed a love for 
horses and feats of arms ; he was of a proud and 
haughty spirit, and conscious of his lofty descent, in- 
sisted that his mother, who had concealed the fact, 
should inform him of the name of his father. She 
had kept the affair a secret, lest Sohrab should wish 
to go forth and seek his father, Rustem. Then 
Tehmimeh revealed to Sohrab the secret of his birth, 
and showed him a bracelet, composed of three superb 
rubies and three emeralds, which Rustem had sent 
when he learned that Tehmimeh had a daughter. 
" It is thy father who has sent this to you, my noble 
son ; thy father Rustem, the greatest warrior on the 
earth, and he the scion of a great race." And then 
she enjoined Sohrab to keep these things secret, lest 
Afrasiab, the enemy of Rustem, should slay Sohrab, 
or lest Rustem should send for his son, and thus 
break the heart of his mother with grief. 

Sohrab grandly replied : " This is not a secret that 
can be kept ; for the whole world resounds with the 
mighty deeds of Rustem. Since he is my father, I 
shall go to his aid ; he shall become king of Persia, 
and together we shall rule the world." After this, he 
caused a steed worthy of him to be found, and with 
the aid of his grandfather, the king of Semenjan, 
made preparations to go in quest of Rustem, his 
father, attended by a mighty host. But when 
Afrasiab heard of these events, he held counsel with 



4& THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

his wise men, and decided openly to assist Sohrab in 
his enterprise, in the expectation that in the war 
which ensued both Rustem and Sohrab would fall, 
and Persia be then at his mercy. He sent an army 
of auxiliaries to Sohrab, and also two astute courtiers, 
named Houman and Barman. They were, under the 
guise of friendship, to assume the position of counsel- 
lors to Sohrab, who was still a mere youth, although 
full grown, tall, and of great ability and courage. 
They were to conceal from Sohrab the identity of his 
father, if they should meet on the field of battle, in 
the hope that Sohrab, as the younger, would be able, 
to slay Rustem, and after that it would be, as Afra- 
siab reasoned, comparatively easy to destroy Sohrab 
by treachery that his young mind would not suspect. 

Sohrab, with his army and that of Afrasiab, set out 
for the south, intending to fight his way until Rus- 
tem should be sent against him ; then he would make 
himself known to the great chieftain, and form an 
alliance with him that would place the line of Seistan 
on the throne. Here again we gain a clear idea of 
the peculiar system of society in those remote times. 
In order to find his father, a son, whose mother be- 
longed to another nation, was obliged to lead a host 
against his father's country. 

The first operations of the army of Sohrab were 
directed against a fortress called the White Castle. 
It was the key to the heart of Persia. Guzdehem, an 
old and famous warrior, was lord of the place, but he 
had a younger captain, named Hedjir, to lead his 
forces. Little suspecting what a champion was at 
the head of the invading army, Hedjir sallied boldly 



SOHRAB. 



47 



forth, and was at once discomfited by Sohrab, who 
made him prisoner. Guzdehem had a lovely daugh- 
ter, who was skilled in athletic sports, an amazon 
famed for her exploits in war. Her name was Gur- 
daferid. Filled with fury by the defeat of Hedjir, she 
delayed not to put on a complete suit of mail, gather- 
ing up her heavy tresses under an iron helmet. Mount- 
ed on a fiery steed, Gurdaferid rode forth from the 
gates of the White Castle, and fiercely challenged the 
host of the enemy to send a champion to meet her, 
and decide the fate of the fortress by single combat. 
But no one of the enemy dared to encounter this re- 
doubtable heroine, until Sohrab, * 
who was reposing in his tent, 
chanced to behold her defying 
the army of Touran. 

With a smile of exultation 
Sohrab rode forth to a fresh en- 
counter. As he approached, 
Gurdaferid shot arrow after 
arrow against his ringing mail. 
Rapidly wheeling her horse 
from side to side, now retiring, 
and now advancing, and smiting 
her shield with her spear to »«« 
frighten his horse, it seemed at Mm 
first that Gurdaferid, by her 
dexterity, was about to gain 
the advantage. Mortified and ancient sculpture, 
enraged, Sohrab made a supreme effort, and suc- 
ceeded in driving his spear-head under her coat of 
mail, and lifting her in the saddle. Drawing her 




48 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

scimitar, Gurdaferid clove the spear in two, but then 
panic-stricken by the extraordinary power he had dis- 
played, she turned her steed and fled. Sohrab pur- 
sued, and seizing her helmet, wrenched it off her head. 
To his amazement, he discovered, as her wealth of 
hair fell over her shoulders, that he had been en- 
gaged in combat with a maiden. Putting up his 
sword, Sohrab threw his noose around her waist, 
and made her his captive. 

Gurdaferid secured her liberty by a truly feminine 
stratagem. Showing her face to Sohrab, she re- 
minded him that both armies would make sport of 
him if they learned that his courage had been dis- 
played in overcoming a woman ; and, rather than 
lay himself open to such mockery, it were far bet- 
ter to release her. Thus he would guard his reputa- 
tion and she solemnly promised in return that the 
White Castle, with its garrison and treasures, should 
be promptly surrendered. 

Perhaps these suggestions had some weight with 
Sohrab, but it is more likely that he was unable to 
resist the soft pleading of her lips, and the expressive 
glances of her gazelle-like eyes. At any rate, he al- 
lowed her to re-enter the gates of the White Castle, 
firmly convinced that he would soon be master, not 
only of the fortress, but of the fair heroine whom, as 
the legend records, he had already begun to love. 
But when Gurdaferid was once more safely within 
the gates, she mounted the battlements, and mocked 
Sohrab, who now saw that he had been trifled with, 
like many a man since then. He vowed vengeance 
on the morrow ; when the sun should arise again, he 



SOHRAB. 49 

promised to burst in the gates, to raze the walls, and 
slay young and old without mercy. But she laughed, 
and bade him beware of Rustem, who, when he 
arose in his might, would sweep Sohrab and the 
hosts of Touran from the face of the earth. 

Sohrab having returned to his camp, Guzdehem 
immediately wrote a despatch to Ke'i Kaoos, which 
was sent by a swift messenger before dawn, inform- 
ing him that the armies of Touran had once more 
invaded Persia, led by a hero of vast stature and 
irresistible power. He warned Ke'i Kaoos to make 
instant preparations to meet the foe, or Sohrab 
would devour the kingdom. The messenger having 
departed, Guzdehem escaped from the White Castle 
with all his people, by a secret passage, being well 
aware what fate awaited them if they tarried until 
Sohrab should storm its walls. Great was the morti- 
fication of Sohrab to find the fortress abandoned ; 
greater still was his regret at the escape of the fair 
Gurdaferid, who was indeed a fit mate for the young 
eaglet, who had flown hither from the heights of 
Semenjan. 

When Ke'i Kaoos received the despatch of Guzde- 
hem he was greatly troubled, and by the advice of 
his chieftains and counsellors decided to summon 
Rustem once more from his retirement to come to 
the rescue of Persia. 

The great Guiv was deputed to bear the royal 
missive to Rustem, with orders to delay not an hour 
either in going or returning, for the occasion was 
critical. Guiv was received with great honor, and 
Rustem agreed to the mandate of Ke'i Kaoos. But 



SO THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

when Guiv urged their immediate departure, Rus- 
tem, with entire confidence in his own power to 
overcome all who attacked Persia, bade him tarry 
several days in feasting. Greatly disquieted by the 
delay, Guiv finally persuaded Rustem to depart with 
him for the court. 

But when Rustem presented himself to Kei Kaoos, 
the monarch, in a great rage, ordered Thous to lead 
Rustem and Guiv at once to the gallows. Thous 
laid his hand on the shoulder of Rustem, but the 
chief of Seistan smote him dead with one blow of his 
fist. He then reminded Kei Kaoos of all that he 
owed to him, his life and his throne, and with loud 
defiance strode out of the presence of the monarch, 
and hastened back to Seistan, scorning Kaoos, and 
caring not for the fate of Persia. The enemy mean- 
time were approaching, and the king, trembling for 
his security and repenting his injudicious wrath, per- 
mitted Gouderz, who was great and wise, to go to 
Seistan and apologize to Rustem for the error of Kei 
Kaoos, and plead with him to lend his powerful aid 
before the redoubtable Sohrab should lay Persia at 
the feet of Touran. After much expostulation Rus- 
tem finally yielded, and the hosts of Persia, led by 
Kei' Kaoos and Rustem, set forth to encounter 
Sohrab. The return of Rustem to the court was 
hailed with great feasting and rejoicing. The king, 
by his conduct, did every thing to efface from the 
heart of the hero the impression of his base ingrati- 
tude. 





WS3m 


P^- 




JPgg 


§i 


i^^s 


SGll 


























||P 


W§£ 




IS 


IKS 




HH 


Ps 



V. 

SOHRAB AND RUSTEM. 

Kei KAOOS put an immense host into the field. 
One hundred thousand horsemen in glittering mail, 
and a troop of mighty elephants accompanied the 
army. When the tents were pitched at evening, and 
the torches gleamed in the canvas streets, the camp 
seemed like a great city. Day by day the army 
drew nearer to the White Castle, where Sohrab still 
remained, preparing his forces for an advance to the 
capital of Iran. The watchmen on the high towers 
announced the appearance of the serried spears of 
a great host, and Sohrab, with-Houman, climbed to 
the battlements to reconnoitre the platoons of the 
enemy. At the sight, Houman showed some appre- 
hension, but Sohrab bade him take courage, for he 
felt assured of victory. 

When night came on Rustem repaired to the 
pavilion of the king and begged permission to go 
forth unarmed to spy out the force of the enemy, 
and learn the character of the chieftains opposed to 
them, especially Sohrab, whose renown aroused a 
certain dread in the Persian host. Permission being 
readily granted, the dauntless Rustem clad himself 
in the disguise of a Turk, and succeeded, in the dark, 

5i 



£2 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

in entering the gate of the fortress, where he soon 
penetrated into the very presence of the great 
Sohrab, who was seated at a banquet with his 
chieftains feasting the night before the battle. 
At his side was his uncle Zendeh Rezm, who was 
acquainted with Rustem, and to whose care the 
mother of Sohrab had confided him, with the request 
that when they should discover Rustem in the 
hostile army, he should point him out to Sohrab, 
who had planned this campaign expressly with the 
purpose of meeting the father of whom he was 
so justly proud. 

One hundred brave warriors were seated around 
the brave scion of Semenjan, and musicians sang his 
glory while the red wine went round, and the torches 
in the high halls of the castle gave back the flash of 
arms and the gleam of eyes eager for the combat of 
the morrow. Rustem watched the scene, standing 
in the shadow of the door. Zendeh Rezm, having 
occasion to go forth, discovered the Persian hidden 
there, and well aware that in the army of Touran 
there was no man of such stature and build as he, de- 
manded sternly who he might be. Rustem gave 
him one blow on the back of the neck and he fell 
where he stood, dead. 

Sohrab waited long for the return of his uncle, 
seeing his place empty. But when search was made 
they found the warrior cold on the pavement. Soh- 
rab, followed by all the guests and slaves, rushed 
with a bound to behold this terrible scene, and all 
were struck dumb with amazement and dread, until 
Sohrab cried out, " There is no repose for us this 



54 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

night, my brave warriors, for a wolf has entered the 
fold, and defied the shepherd and thedogs. Sharpen 
your blades, for I swear before God, to avenge Zen- 
deh Rezm when the sun rises ! " 

But Rustem returned to the camp and reported to 
Kei Kaoos all that had occurred, adding that rumor 
had not exaggerated the qualities of Sohrab, who in 
person and soul was undoubtedly the most dangerous 
champion who had yet led an army against Persia. 
Then the king ordered musicians and wine, and they 
drank to success when the clash of arms should ring 
over the plains at return of day. 

When the sun arose Sohrab put on his coat of 
mail and his helmet of steel decorated with gold. A 
scimitar was suspended at his side from a band that 
passed over the shoulder. From the pommel of his 
saddle was hung a lasso, such as the warriors of 
those days used with so much effect. It was so long 
that it was coiled sixty times around the pommel. Ac- 
companied by Hedjir, one of the captains of Afrasiab, 
he rode forth to a rocky eminence from whence he 
could well observe the hostile army. Sohrab en- 
joined his companion to point out to him the chief 
warriors of the Persian host, and especially Rustem, 
adding with great sternness that if Hedjir should 
deceive him he should throw him in chains for the 
remainder of his life. One after another, Hedjir in- 
dicated to Sohrab various chieftains of renown, their 
tents and banners. But when Sohrab called the 
attention of Hedjir to a great tent before which was 
planted the standard of Persia, the leathern apron of 
Kaweh, and a warrior of vast stature and commanding 



SOHRAB AND R U STEM. 55 

presence who was there, and a great steed neighing by 
the tent door, and eagerly demanded to be informed 
who it could be, Hedjir, remembering the purpose for 
which he had been sent by Afrasiab, refrained from 
telling Sohrab that this was none other than his 
famous father, Rustem ; but in an indifferent tone 
replied that it must be some foreign ally who had 
joined the army of Kei' Kaoos. Sohrab showed 
much disappointment when he failed to discover 
Rustem in the army of Persia, but as the legend says, 
" It was destined otherwise by the decree of Him 
who changeth not." 

Dissatisfied with the reply of Hedjir, Sohrab con- 
tinued to ply him with questions and surmises, say- 
ing that it must be impossible for Rustem to be ab- 
sent from the seat of war on the eve of so important 
a conflict, for he was ever at the front of battle, 
eager for the din of arms and for glory. Hedjir re- 
plied again that it was now the feast of roses in 
Seistan, and Rustem had probably tarried to enjoy 
its festivities. But Sohrab stoutly maintained that 
Rustem was of no such stuff as to prefer feasting to 
war; and reminded Hedjir of the threat made to 
him in case he told not the truth ; Sohrab then 
added that if he failed to be rightly informed about 
Rustem, he would surely hew Hedjir into frag- 
ments. Hedjir, close-pressed by the questions and 
threats of the young warrior, evaded a direct reply 
by saying that it was folly for Sohrab to seek to 
meet Rustem in battle, for there could only be one 
issue to such an unequal combat, even though the 
Persian were now advanced in years. " Better," said 



56 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Hedjir, " that thou encounter him not, for he would 
utterly destroy thee on the battle-field." 

When Sohrab heard these words, he turned away 
hesitating and perplexed ; then from the saddle he 
felled Hedjir to the earth, and returned to the White 
Castle. He was greatly disheartened, for he had 
opened this campaign with the earnest longing that 
it might make him acquainted with his father ; and 
he found himself baffled and disappointed. The 
mysterious words of Hedjir made it evident that it 
was impossible to learn through him the exact truth 
regarding Rustem. But, as Sohrab was the leader 
of the Touranian army, he could not remain idle ; 
and, therefore, like a careful general, made all the 
preparations necessary to win success. 

Taking off his coronet of gold, Sohrab replaced it 
with a massive helmet ; his mighty arms and chest 
he encased in a coat of chain mail ; his thighs and 
arms were protected with greaves and armlets of 
steel ; he took his lasso, his bow, his scimitar, and 
his tremendous mace, and defiled his sturdy warriors, 
many and brave, forth from the castle to the plains. 
Taking the Persians unawares by the swiftness of 
his onset, Sohrab hurled the army of Touran against 
the entrenched camp of Kei' Kaoos, and penetrated 
to the very pavilion of the king. It was magnifi- 
cent to behold the irresistible charge of this strip- 
pling, who, yet a mere youth, seemed like a god of 
war. 

In this dire extremity, when all seemed lost, Kei' 
Kaoos sent for Rustem. Impatiently exclaiming 
that Kaoos never sent for him except when he had 



SOHRAB AND RUSTEM. S7 

got himself into trouble, the hero of Seistan put 
on his armor, mounted Raksch eagerly, and rushed 
to the combat. But when Rustem reached the 
spot where Sohrab, with his mighty mace, was 
dealing death on all sides, he said to him : " Let us 
leave this place and go beyond the lines of the two 
hosts." "Yes," replied Sohrab, "we '11 go together 
alone to a retired spot ; we are both heroes, and you 
and I will decide this war between ourselves ; but 
know that in the shock of arms you will not be able 
to withstand me, although you are large of stature 
and of great strength." 

Rustem looked at this young man so tall, so broad 
in the shoulders, so firmly knit, and sitting his steed 
with such ease and skill, and he replied in a pleasant 
voice : " O young man, still of tender years ! the 
earth is dry and cold ; the air of heaven is soft and 
balmy. I am old, and have seen many a battle-field ; 
I have destroyed many an army ; never have I been 
overthrown. Assuredly, if you survive me, you will 
be able to encounter dragons. The stars have wit- 
nessed my prowess, the world has been at my mercy. 
But I have a tenderness for you, and I seek not to 
rob you of life. Leave the people of Touran, for 
there is none like you in Persia." 

While Rustem was thus speaking, the heart of 
Sohrab beat fast, and yearned towards Rustem ; for 
a vague instinct made him think that the father 
whom he was seeking was before him. He said: 
" I will ask you a question, and must have the truth. 
Tell me frankly your birth, and rejoice my heart with 
glad tidings ; I think that you are Rustem, of the 



58 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

great race of Neriman." But Rustem replied: "I 
am not Rustem, nor of the race of Neriman ; for he 
is a chieftain, and I am only an ordinary man, having 
neither palace nor princely diadem." The heart of 
Sohrab sank within him as he heard these fatal words, 
and the light of day became dark before his eyes in 
his despair, for he remembered the words of his 
mother, and his soul was perplexed within him. 

The two warriors now prepared for the combat in 
which one or both was destined to die. They 
marked out the lists, and, mounted on their powerful 
steeds, began the fight by hurling their javelins, and 
when these were blunted against the steel bucklers, 
they drew their long Indian swords, and the sparks 
flew fast as they hacked each other's iron mail, until 
the massive blades of steel were splintered under the 
terrific blows. Each was equal to the other, and 
still unwounded they raised their maces and rained 
blows until the mail of horses and riders was alike 
shattered, and each champion was exhausted with 
the fury of this tremendous combat. By tacit con- 
sent they separated and retired to opposite sides of 
the lists for an interval of repose. Rustem in all his 
long life of battle had never met a warrior so re- 
doubtable as Sohrab, and for the first time he began 
to have doubts of the victory. 

Once more the champions mounted their chargers 
and rushed to the mortal fray, beginning with arrows 
that fall harmless from the iron armor and cuirasses 
of leopard-hide. All pity and hope now left the 
heart of each, and a wild fury seized them. They 
drove their horses together, and Rustem, clutching 



SOHRAB AND -RUSTEM. 59 

Sohrab by the waist-girdle, strove to lift him out of 
the saddle, as he had done so many other enemies ; 
but he could make no impression on the herculean 
frame of the youthful hero. Sohrab, on the other 
hand, quickly seized his mace and smote Rustem on 
the shoulder, crushing through the mail-armor and 
bruising the bones. The pain was severe, but Rus- 
tem concealed his anguish, while Sohrab mocked him 
as an old man destined to fall before the power of 
youth. But they were both exhausted and mutually 
retired, each seeking relief by leading an attack on 
the opposing army. But when Rustem saw the 
havoc that the sword of Sohrab was making in the 
Persian ranks he rode up to him and induced him 
to agree to postpone all further fighting until the 
following day, when the single combat should be 
resumed. There is no doubt that the result of the 
fight had been thus far such as to confound the 
Persians and make them tremble for never before 
had the great Rustem been baffled on the field. 

Sohrab returned to his camp sorely tired, and yet 
full of confidence. But Rustem, like a prudent man, 
gave directions as to his funeral in case he should 
fall on the morrow. Although not cast down, yet he 
felt that there is a time for all to die, and he had never 
been so near his fate as now. But he was nerved also 
by a thirst for vengeance against the champion who 
had so nearly reaped the laurels he had won on a 
hundred fields. 

When the sun arose and the black raven was cast- 
ing its black shadow over the lonely plains, the two 
champions rode forth once more to try the wager of 



60 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

battle. To prevent the armies from intervening, and 
in the excitement of the combat falling on each other, 
they were removed to a distance of several miles 
apart. Midway between, the champions met in the 
centre of a lonely, treeless waste, through which 
coursed a deep, winding river ; gray mountain 
ridges skirted the horizon far away ; it was a scene 
of dreariness and mysterious solitude. 

Sohrab rode joyously to meet his implacable foe, 
and a smile was on his face as he wished him a good- 
morning and hoped that he had passed the night in 
refreshing slumber, for he was more than ever con- 
vinced in his heart that he had to do with Rustem, 
and was determined if possible to bring about a 
reconciliation. He proposed that instead of continu- 
ing the combat to a fatal issue, they should now 
enter into a friendship that would spring from a 
respect based upon the equal ability they had shown 
in the test of arms. But Rustem was in no mood to 
accept such a proposal from a champion so much 
younger than himself, while the doubtful result of 
the previous day had made it necessary for him to 
restore his tottering prestige with the life-blood of 
his generous but dangerous rival. 

This time the combat was renewed on foot. They 
fastened their steeds to the rocks, and then, cLad in 
complete mail, approached each other stealthily and 
in diminishing circles, each watching the chance to 
pounce like a lion on his foe. From morning until 
afternoon the enemies fought, until by superior 
agility Sohrab succeeded in felling the great Rustem 
to the earth, and as he pinned him there, kneeling on 



SOHRAB AND RUSTEM. 6 1 

the breast of the prostrate champion, he drew a dag- 
ger to cleave his head from his shoulders. But Rus- 
tem, who was not only strong but also gifted with 
the craft of one of large experience, had the presence 
of mind to arrest the arm of Sohrab by saying that 
it was not the custom in chivalrous warfare to slay a 
champion in the first fall, but to wait until the second 
throw, when usage entitled the victor honorably to 
take the life of the vanquished. Sohrab, as chivalrous 
as he was brave, immediately removed his grasp from 
Rustem, and permitting him to rise, departed for 
the camp. Rustem, scarcely believing himself alive 
after such an escape, thanked the Almighty for his 
preservation, and bathed his limbs, covered with 
dust and blood, in the river. Never before had he 
been so beset in battle ; never before since the world 
began had two champions been so evenly matched ; 
never before had a duel been so long, so desperate, 
so indecisive 

But when Sohrab related to his army the events 
of that terrible day, Houman shook his head in sor- 
row, and bade Sohrab beware when the combat was 
resumed, for he had no common antagonist, and for- 
tune rarely gives us twice the opportunity to over- 
come our foes. 

After a brief rest the champions came together 
again, determined to bring this awful struggle to a 
close ere another night set in. The crisis had evi- 
dently come ; ere many hours one or the other would 
shut his eyes forever on the setting sun. With fresh 
force Sohrab flew at Rustem ; but he by a supreme 
effort seized Sohrab around the waist in a grip of 



62 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

iron and hurled him to the ground, and as he lay- 
there panting, before he could struggle to his feet 
again, Rustem drew his blade quick as lightning and 
drove it through the bosom of the youthful hero. 

With a groan of anguish, Sohrab gasped : " This 
has come through my own folly ; it is destiny that 
has decided. You are not to blame. My mother 
described to me the signs by which I might recog- 
nize my father, and it is because of my yearning for 
him that I have met my death. I have searched 
for him, and for this purpose have sacrificed my life. 
Alas ! I shall never see him ; but if you were a fish 
to lose thyself in the depths, or a star to hide in the 
heavens, my father will wreak his vengeance on you 
when he learns my doom. There are those who will 
report to Rustem, my father, that I was slain while 
searching to find him." 

Rustem, when he heard these words, shook with 
horror, his mind became confused, a mist passed be- 
fore his eyes, and he fell in a swoon by the side of 
his mighty son. When he revived, he asked of 
Sohrab, in tones of terrible anguish, by what marks 
he could prove himself to be the son of Rustem, and 
then he cried out : " For I am Rustem, the son of Zal ; 
would that my name would perish, and that I were 
dead ! " But when Sohrab heard these words, he 
upbraided his father for slaying him, for had he not 
that very day pleaded with him to abandon the com- 
bat and enter into terms of peace, but Rustem had 
sternly refused ; and he continued : " Unbind my 
coat of mail, and observe my glowing skin. When 
the clarions sounded at the gates the hour for de- 



SOHRAB AND RUSTEM. 



63 



parture, my mother ran to me, her eyes filled with 
tears. And she bound on my arm an onyx, saying 
it is a memento of thy father, keep it with care till 
the appointed time has come to need it ; but that 
hour came not until I lay dying before the eyes of 
my father." 

Rustem unlaced the coat of mail and saw the 
onyx bound to the white arm of Sohrab. Then he 
rent his clothes and tore out his hair and beat 




OTffilfflltt 


fflfflfflfflfffi 


jH^fflifflil 


r 




% 

iliii 


iiL 



ANCIENT PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



his breast, and lamented: " O my son whom I have 
slain, my son who art glorious in all lands and among 
all people ! " But Sohrab bade his father do himself 
no harm, for there was now no remedy ; the deed 
was done and destiny had willed their doom. 

When the glowing sun had disappeared below the 
verge of the desert, and Rustem returned not from 
the field, Kef Kaoos sent twenty warriors to recon- 
noitre and learn what had become of the champion 



6\ THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

of Persia. Seeing from afar that Rustem was not 
mounted on his horse, they returned and reported 
that he had yielded at last to the foe. At once great 
lamentations and cries of alarm arose from the host, 
and a scout was sent on a fleet dromedary to scour 
the plains and discover what Sohrab was purposing, 
for if he were the victor, who was there now in their 
camp to resist him? 

But when Sohrab heard the din, he urged Rustem to 
show his love for him by permitting the host of Touran 
to return unmolested to their country, since it had 
been out of confidence in Sohrab that they had ven- 
tured on this campaign. Rustem in his sorrow could 
not reply, but flung himself in the saddle and flew to 
the Persian camp, where all were amazed to see his 
armor shattered, his garments torn, and his flesh 
gaping with many wounds. With a wild cry Rustem 
ordered his army to remain in the camp and on no 
account to attack the army of Sohrab. He then 
despatched a trusty chieftain to Houman to inform 
him of the fall of Sohrab, and to accompany him as a 
safeguard until the army of Touran had recrossed the 
border. Having thus accomplished the last wishes 
of his son, Rustem returned to him with a litter 
made comfortable with cushions of silk. But when 
he reached the spot where Sohrab was lying he found 
that his brave soul had departed. Amid the lamen- 
tations of the father and of the entire army they 
tenderly bore the corpse of the warrior youth to the 
camp. While Kei' Kaoos and the Persian army re- 
turned home, Rustem returned to Seistan with the 
body of Sohrab, who was buried in the tomb of his 



SOHRAB AND RUSTEM, 



65 



fathers far from the land of his birth, and all the 
land was clad in mourning for him. 

When Tehmimeh, the mother of Sohrab, heard 
of his death, and that he had been slain by the 
sword of his father, she threw dust on her head, she 
tore her tresses and her cheeks, she beat her bosom, 
and declined all food. Then she caused them to 
bring and set before her the throne of Sohrab and 
his coronet, and bending over them bathed them 
with her tears. Thus lamenting she was wasted by 
grief, and ere many days had elapsed she passed 
away to rejoin her hero child, Sohrab. 




VI. 

SIAWUSCH. 

It happened on a certain day, when Kei" Kaoos 
was still young in his royal honors, that two of the 
pehlewans, or warrior nobles, of his stately court de- 
parted for the chase. They were accompanied by 
numerous retainers, falconers with their hooded fal- 
cons, and leopards, such as are trained to hunt the 
gazelle and the wild ass. After a goodly day's sport 
they came to a vast wood, reaching many leagues. 
The huntsmen entered the dark recesses of the for- 
est, and to their surprise discovered there a maiden 
of marvellous beauty, her hair and neck spangled 
with costly jewels. Excepting her horse, that was 
nibbling the grass near her, she was entirely alone in 
this green solitude. To the inquiries of the cavaliers, 
the lady replied that she was a fugitive from domes- 
tic ill-treatment, and was of noble descent, being 
of the line of Feridoon. There was nothing surpris- 
ing in this, because the kings of Persia have many 
wives and concubines and numerous descendants. 
She expected soon to be overtaken by her father's 
servants, who, when her flight was discovered, would 
undoubtedly take every means to trace her path. 

The hearts of the warriors warmed towards the 
66 



SI A WUSCH. 6? 

maiden, and Thous said : " It is I who have discov- 
ered her, it is on her account that I hastened 
hither." But Guiv replied : " O servant of the king, 
you are not equal to me unless backed by an army ; 
how then shall you claim her? " At hot discussion 
arose between them for possession of the maiden, 
until one of their companions suggested that they 
conduct her to the presence of the king, and let him 
decide the question. 

When Kei' Kaoos beheld the face of the maiden, 
he smiled and bit his lips, and said to the two noble- 
men : " You have not been long absent on this hunt ; 
you have brought back only one gazelle, but a gazelle 
that belongs only to a king." He then 'questioned 
the damsel as to her history, and expressed his satis- 
faction by gallantly assuring her that she was worthy 
to recline on cushions broidered with gold, and that 
he should make her chief of the moon-faced queens 
in his palace. She replied, without hesitation : " As 
soon as I beheld you, I selected you as worthiest of 
all the great." Few women would decline the offer 
of a king, and in the exchange of compliments at 
least, she was his equal. Thus neither Thous nor 
Guiv secured the prize, but the king, while robbing 
them of a treasure it would have been difficult to 
award to the satisfaction of both, consoled them by 
presenting a diadem and ten superb horses to each. 
But on his new favorite Kei' Kaoos showered rubies 
and pearls. 

In due time it was announced to Kei' Kaoos that a 
son was born to him and his fair queen. He was a 
child of unusual attractions and promise, and the 



68 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

king offered thanks to the Almighty for his gift. 
But the astrologers foretold for the infant a career of 
great vicissitude, ending in sorrow. But hope, which 
ever deludes us into forgetting the inevitable, led 
Kaoos to disregard these gloomy forebodings, and he 
entrusted his son to the great Rustem, under whose 
tutelage it was expected the boy would grow up to 
be a worthy defendant of the fortunes of Persia. 
Thus years passed on, until in Seistan with Rustem, 
Siawusch grew to be a youth of noble proportions, 
expert in all manly exercises, and with a face radiant 
with goodness and intelligence. On his return to Per- 
sepolis, Siawusch was received by his royal parents 
with all the rejoicing and splendor of a great court. 
But in the midst of these festivities the mother of 
Siawusch fell sick and died. No words can describe 
the sorrow of the young prince, which only yielded 
when many days had passed. He learned thus early 
the sad truth that care makes no distinction, but in 
one form or another enters palaces and hovels and 
lays its load alike, on the hearts of peasants and of 
princes. 

Soon after this melancholy event, Siawusch was 
subjected to a temptation that put his character to 
the test. Soudabeh, the wife whom Kei Kaoos 
had brought with him after his Syrian victory, being 
untrue to her royal spouse, undertook to seduce his 
handsome son Siawusch from the path of duty, but he 
ever nobly resisted her advances until her guilty love 
turned to hate, and with loud outcries she made 
complaints against Siawusch to the king. The plot 
devised against the young prince by Soudabeh was 



SIA WUSCH. 69 

so deep that it was impossible for the king to decide 
as to the guilt or innocence of Siawusch, and between 
his love for his son and the love he bore to the beau- 
tiful woman who voluntarily shared with him the 
dungeons of Hamaveram. By the advice of the 
astrologers, Kei Kaoos reluctantly decided to put 
Siawusch to the ordeal of fire, to which he willingly 
consented, conscious of innocence. 

Mounted on a black horse, Siawusch rode fearlessly 
between two immense burning pyres, and came forth 
harmless, to the great joy of the assembled multi- 
tudes. Siawusch being thus 
proved innocent of the grievous 
charge, it followed that Souda- 
beh was guilty of compassing 
the death of the favorite son of 
the king for reasons best known 
to herself. Kei Kaoos, with 
great reluctance, because of his 
love for her, which continued in 

. FIRE ALTAR. 

spite 01 her wickedness, ordered 

her to be taken to execution. But Siawusch gener- 
ously pleaded for her life, and his father, glad of the 
opportunity, freely pardoned her. 

About this time, Afrasiab again invaded Persia 
with a mighty host. The force which Kei" Kaoos 
sent against Afrasiab was placed in command of Sia- 
wusch, but Rustem accompanied him to give him the 
benefit of his experience in war. The king rode a 
day's journey with his son, and then father and son 
parted, each with tears in his eyes, for they both had 
a presentiment that they should never meet again. 




yO THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Notwithstanding his great defects of character, Kei' 
Kaoos appears to have been a fond husband and 
father. 

After three indecisive battles, the Persian army 
succeeded in shutting up the enemy in Balkh, the 
capital of Afrasiab, and then carried the city by 
storm. The proud king of Touran had an ominous 
dream after these events, and decided at once to sue 
for peace. Siavvusch and Rustem would only accept 
the terms on the condition that Afrasiab should give 
one hundred hostages, nobles and kinsfolk, in token 
of his sincerity in proposing a cessation of the war. 
The hostages were delivered. But when Kef Kaoos 
was informed of the conditions of the peace by Rus- 
tem, he drove that chieftain back to Seistan, accus- 
ing him of being the author of peace when the war 
should have been pursued until Afrasiab had been 
destroyed and Touran completely subdued. Kaoos 
then despatched another general to the army in 
place of Rustem, and ordered Siawusch to bind the 
hostages and send them to his father Kaoos for ex- 
ecution. 

But Siawusch, being a prince of the highest purity 
and honor, could not be a party to such a disgraceful 
proceeding. Convinced that Kei' Kaoos must be 
partly instigated in his course by the evil influence 
of Soudabeh, Siawusch felt that there was only one 
course that was safe for his life and his honor. The 
hostages he would not kill, for he said that great as 
was the authority of Kei' Kaoos there was a greater, 
the law of God ; while if he disobeyed the mandate of 
his royal father it was wellnigh certain that Kei' 



SI A WUSCH. y\ 

Kaoos, in his dangerous capriciousness, would slay 
him. Siawusch decided to return the hostages to 
Afrasiab, and to abandon his country and the prospect 
of a throne rather than yield to dishonor. It was a 
high resolve, but far different to that which most 
men would have taken under similar circumstances. 
In vain the counsellors and generals of his army 
sought to dissuade him. One strong friend stood 
by him ; his name was Zengueh. Him Siawusch sent 
to Afrasiab with the hostages to announce the com- 
ing of the prince. Siawusch then gave his orders to 
Bahman to watch the army well until the arrival of 
the general deputed to take the place of Rustem, 
and departed for the court of Afrasiab. 

The matter of receiving the self-exiled prince was 
one of difficulty. Afrasiab took counsel with Piran, 
a venerable and wise chieftain, and decided to wel- 
come Siawusch as a son, and award a palace, and 
slaves and horses for his comfort, and in every way 
to treat him as if he were of his own family, and risk 
whatever results might follow. It must be admitted 
that Afrasiab was moved to this course not by hospi- 
tality or gratitude for the regard the prince had shown 
for the lives of the hostages. The king of Touran 
was aware that Kei' Kaoos was old, and liable at any 
time to leave the throne vacant. If Siawusch were 
then living in Touran the possible advantages to 
Touran were incalculable. 

But whatever selfishness might have entered into 
the hospitality of Afrasiab, there was none apparent 
in the reception he accorded Siawusch. After de- 
spatching a touching letter to his father, the Persian 



J± THE STOkY OE PERSIA. 

prince set out at evening with his cortege, and rode 
until he reached the frontier on the banks of the 
Gihoon ; there he found chieftains and warriors and 
servants, who escorted him with royal honors to the 
capital. Every town on the road was decorated, and 
everywhere the people came forth to give him wel- 
come. At the city of Kafdjak he stopped to rest 
and was met there by Piran, the first nobleman of 
Touran, with one thousand picked warriors. Piran 
was so overcome by the manly beauty and lofty 
character of the young prince that from time to 
time, says the chronicler, he ejaculated the name 
of God. 

When they arrived at Gang, where Afrasiab then 
held his court, that haughty monarch condescended 
to show his appreciation towards his distinguished 
guest by descending from his audience-hall to the 
palace gates to meet him. When Siawusch beheld 
him he quickly alighted, and king and prince em- 
braced with every token of friendship. " Hence- 
forth," exclaimed Afrasiab, " war will no longer 
desolate the earth, and the lion and the leopard will 
lie down together." The Persian prince was led by 
his royal host to a magnificent banquet, and when all 
were satiated with feasting and splendor, Siawusch 
was conducted to the palace which King Afrasiab had 
ordered to be prepared for the residence of his guest. 

In the meantime a swift messenger bore the letter 
of Siawusch to Kei Kaoos, who was confounded by 
its contents. Instead of continuing the war he or- 
dered the army to return home, and abandoned hos- 
tilities against Afrasiab. 



si A WUSCH. 



73 



Siawusch continued to increase in favor with Afra- 
siab, although in the midst of the honors showered 
upon him he often longed for home and the friends he 
had left and was never to see again. By the advice of 
Piran, Afrasiab gave his daughter, Ferenguiz, to Sia- 
wusch, the marriage being celebrated with much splen- 
dor, although the astrologers fore- 
told that this alliance would not 
prove fortunate for the destiny of 
Afrasiab and Touran. Soon after 
this event the king apointed Sia- 
wusch governor of one of his lar- 
gest provinces, and he founded the 
cities of Siawuschgird and Gang-i- 
Siawusch, the latter celebrated by 
the poet Ferdoiisee as one of the 
most delightful spots in the East. 
But when the gallant young prince, 
happy in the lovely wife and the 
many honors so rapidly bestowed 
on him, inquired of the astrologers 
whether this city was destined to 
add to his happiness, they replied 
that it did not so promise, and 
his heart was saddened by their 
reply. Unhappy prince ! who 
was gifted with every manly virtue, with every 
physical grace, with every noble accomplishment, 
who was born heir to a great throne, and was 
universally beloved ; and yet from his cradle destiny 
seemed to pursue him with misfortune ; his virtues 
even brought him trouble, and the stars predicted 




PILLAR, BASE AND 
CAPITAL, PERSEPOLIS. 



74 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

unhappiness and doom for one who deserved happi- 
ness and success. 

During this period Siawusch retained the strong 
friendship of Piran, who reported to King Afrasiab, 
with warm praise, all that the Prince of Persia had 
done to beautify his province. Pleased at what he 
heard, Afrasiab deputed his brother, Guersiwez, to 
proceed with many costly gifts and gracious mes- 
sages to Siawusch. Guersiwez was entertained in a 
manner worthy of his rank, and athletic games were 
arranged in his honor. But the amazing strength 
and skill displayed by Siawusch on this occasion, 
and the splendor by which he was surrounded, filled 
Guersiwez with envy, and still more with dread, 
for he considered Siawusch quite too dangerous to 
be treated with such honor and confidence by the 
hereditary enemy of Persia, King Afrasiab. Little 
did the pure and unsuspicious nature of Siawusch 
magine the evil that lurked in the heart of the 
guest he was entertaining with splendor. 

On his return to the court Guersiwez insidiously 
poisoned the mind of Afrasiab by false tales, in which 
he accused Siawusch of actually plotting to bring a 
Persian army into Touran. At first, receiving these 
stories with hesitation, Afrasiab at last became furi- 
ous against his gentle guest, and proceeded against 
him with an army. A terrible dream had forewarned 
Siawusch that his doom was at hand ; but when he 
heard of the approach of Afrasiab he entertained not 
the slightest thought of resistance, but after bidding 
a touching farewell to his lovely young wife, Feren- 
guiz, went forth to welcome Afrasiab to the cool 



SI A WUSCH. 75 

bowers of Siawuschgird. But Afrasiab hurled his 
army on the escort of Siawusch without waiting to 
confer and to learn the truth, and all were cut to 
pieces. Siawusch even then disdained to defend him- 
self. Conscious of his innocence, he preferred to die 
rather than give color to the slanders of his enemies 
by drawing a sword against his royal host and the 
father of his bride. 

Seized by a hundred cruel hands, the noble youth 
was bound and thrown into a dungeon of his own 
palace ; from thence he was dragged by the hair of 
his head to the place of tournaments, and slaughtered 
by Gerou'i, the willing tool of Guersiwez. Not con- 
tent with this foul deed, this crime against the laws 
of hospitality, Afrasiab then directed his fury against 
his daughter, Ferenguiz ; she was cast into prison, 
and the order went forth to slay her likewise, be- 
cause she was about to become a mother, and the 
ruthless king of Touran would have none of the off- 
spring of the murdered Iredj alive in his dominions. 
During the occurrence of these tragical events the 
great and good Piran-Wisa was absent from the court. 
If he had been there, the wisdom of his counsels might 
have prevailed to turn Afrasiab from his fell pur- 
poses. Now when he learned of these events and 
the terrible fate that awaited Ferenguiz, he flew to 
his stables and saddling his swiftest steed with his 
own hands, he dashed over hill and valley, stopping 
neither to eat nor sleep until he drew rein before the 
pavilion of King Afrasiab. 

With noble courage Piran-Wisa strode into the 
presence of the cruel king and upbraiding him for 



y6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

his perfidy, foretold a certain retribution when Kei 
Kaoos and Rustem should learn of the treatment 
awarded to the pure and high-minded Siawusch. 
Piran-Wisa pleaded also in lofty tones for the life 
of Ferenguiz, until Afrasiab hung his head in shame ; 
his soul was seized with remorse, and he ordered his 
daughter to be released from her chains and given to 
the care of Piran-Wisa, who promised to be responsi- 
ble for her child when it should be born. 

When a son was given to Ferenguiz she called him 
Kei Khosroo, in obedience to the wishes of her mur- 
dered husband, and again Piran-Wisa interposed to 
save the infant's life from the executioners. He 
caused the child to be given to a shepherd, who 
was to bring him up to the charge of flocks and 
herds, and carefully to keep concealed from him the 
fact of his origin from a line of kings. But in the 
course of years King Afrasiab- awoke one night and 
brooded over the fact that a scion of the royal house 
of Persia, a son of the murdered Siawusch, still lived 
and might become the avenger of his father and a 
scourge to Touran. Oppressed with these thoughts, 
Afrasiab sent, ere it was dawn, for Piran-Wisa to con- 
fer with him on the subject. On the one hand, the 
king dreaded to leave the youth alive, and on the 
other hand, his conscience forbade him to shed more 
innocent blood in order to ensure the safety of his 
throne. The fate of the young Kei Khosroo hung 
in the balance. While he was sleeping on the gray 
mountains by the side of his flocks, little imagining 
his destiny, a king was deciding for him the question 
of life and death. 



sia wusch. 77 

Again the good Piran-Wisa came to the aid of 
mercy and justice, and by his cunning succeeded in 
preserving the shepherd lad for the great destiny 
that was in store for him. Piran-Wisa represented 
that there was nothing to fear from a boy who was a 
mere idiot, without intelligence, although exceed- 
ingly handsome. His fears thus quieted, Afrasiab 
swore a great oath, the oath of kings, by the bright 
day and the dark night, and God the Creator, that 
he would never do any harm to Kei' Khosroo. Re- 
assured by this tremendous oath, Piran-Wisa went to 
the mountains and sought out the royal shepherd 
boy and brought him before the king, having first 
carefully instructed him to act the part of an idiot. 
When he entered the palace of Afrasiab strong men 
wept as they thought of the fate of his father, and 
even the hard-hearted king condescended to shed 
a tear when he gazed on his grandson for the first 
time. But Piran-Wisa shook with dread when he be- 
held the defenceless youth standing in the presence 
of the terrible king. 

For a long time Afrasiab gazed on Kei Khosroo, 
while pity and hate, the remembrance of his vow, 
and the dread of the house of Feridoon, shook his 
bosom with conflicting emotions. At length his bet- 
ter nature prevailed, and he addressed the youth 
with pleasant words, asking him such questions as 
he thought would prove whether Piran-Wisa had told 
him the truth in regard to his idiocy. Kei' Khosroo 
answered so cunningly that Afrasiab was convinced 
that his mind was indeed weak and that there was 
no cause to fear aught from him in the future. 



78 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Greatly pleased, Afrasiab ordered Piran-Wisa to 
carry Kei Khosroo to Siawuschgird and leave him 
in the care of his mother, Ferenguiz. 

But while these events were occurring in Touran, 
tidings of the fate of Siawusch reached Persia. Great 
was the rage of Kei Kaoos and Rustem ; deep was 
the remorse of Kei Kaoos for the conduct which had 
driven his son from him and deprived Persia of so 
noble an heir to the throne, while universal lamenta- 
tion filled the hearts of all the people. When the 
great Rustem heard the sad tidings, he called to mind 
the days when Siawusch, while yet a mere youth, had 
studied the art of war with him in Seistan. He arose 
and vowed not to rest until he had wreaked ven- 
geance on the king of Touran. Then he journeyed to 
the capital, and in the presence of Kei' Kaoos him- 
self, accused Soudabeh of being the wicked cause of 
a catastrophe which had reft Persia of one who 
promised to be the pride and glory of that ancient 
monarchy. He offered his aid to crush Afrasiab, 
on condition that Soudabeh be sacrificed for her 
crimes, and then proceeded from the audience-hall 
of Kei Kaoos to the apartments of the women and 
seized Soudabeh. The shrieks and entreaties of the 
unhappy queen were of no avail when she was at last 
in the terrible grasp of Rustem. He dragged her 
forth into the outer court and plunged a poignard 
into her heart. 

From all parts of Persia a vast army was now 
gradually assembled, which with slow but steady 
march proceeded towards the frontier and invaded 
the territory of King Afrasiab. The uneasy con- 



8o THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

science of that treacherous monarch and the re- 
doubtable arm of Rustem brought about the com- 
plete overthrow of Afrasiab, who was forced to seek 
refuge far in the East with the king of China, and 
Rustem was appointed Viceroy. 

When Afrasiab fled towards the far East he caused 
Ferenguiz and Ke'i Khosroo to be driven into a hid- 
den nook distant in Central Asia, where for a long 
time all traces of them were lost. But at last Guiv, 
one of the heroes of the court of Ke'i Kaoos, suc- 
ceeded in finding them, and after many thrilling 
adventures brought them to Ispahan, where Ke'i 
Khosroo was received with much joy by his grand- 
father, Ke'i Kaoos, who was now very old. Indeed 
Ke'i Kaoos was drawing near the end of his long 
and disturbed reign, and he had scarcely named Ke'i 
Khosroo for his successor, than he felt the hand of 
death lie heavily upon him. 

After Ke'i Kaoos had gone, his old enemy Afra- 
siab made a final effort to recover his throne. Rus- 
tem being also of great age and desirous of ending 
his days in Seistan, left Touran. Afrasiab seized 
this opportunity to collect a large army, and at 
first met with some success. But Ke'i Khosroo, 
whom he had so justly dreaded, was now in the 
bloom of early manhood, at the opening of a long 
and glorious career. He had also the task of aven- 
ging the murder of his father, Siawusch, and he en- 
tered therefore on this his first campaign with great 
ardor. In his last struggle, Afrasiab displayed ability 
and fought with the force of despair. But he fought 
in vain ; and a career which had for many years been 



SIAWUSCH. 8 1 

sullied with blood, and wrought so much evil to 
Persia, was at last destined to close in defeat. 

But the victory of Kei Khosroo was not an easy 
one ; the armies of Touran had never fought with such 
obstinacy and courage ; repeatedly was a truce agreed 
on to allow both armies to rest. At length the good 
Piran-Wisa was slain. He had always been the friend 
of Siawusch. To him Kei Khosroo owed his life on 
several occasions ; but when Piran-Wisa saw that 
war was inevitable, he could do no less than fight for 
his country, even if in doing so he opposed Kei 
Khosroo. Once he was taken prisoner, but was re- 
leased at the intercession of Ferenguiz. And when, 
at last, in a later conflict, he fell covered with 
wounds in honorable battle, the glorious veteran was 
mourned by both armies, and Kei Khosroo caused a 
sumptuous tomb to be erected over his grave. "But 
when the treacherous Guersiwez, who had betrayed 
the father of Kei Khosroo, fell into the hands of the 
Persians, he was executed with the treatment he had 
so richly deserved. In the end Afrasiab himself was 
slain by the terrible arm of Kei' Khosroo, and the 
hosts of Persia filed victorious through the fallen 
palaces of her greatest foe. In the words of the 
Persian bard : " The spider hath woven his web in 
the imperial palace ; and the owl hath sung her 
watch-songf on the towers of Afrasiab." 





VII. 

KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 

HITHERTO we have been considering episodes in 
the legendary history of Persia. Although scarcely 
alluded to in the Greek and Roman accounts of 
Persia, yet they have great value among the Persians 
themselves, and are undoubtedly founded upon ac- 
tual events that occurred before the period of which 
the Greeks began their accounts of Oriental history. 
In narrating the history of Persia from the com- 
mencement of Kei' Khosroo, or Kur, as the Persians 
call him, or Kuros, according to the Greeks and 
Romans, and Cyrus in our language, we find it 
often difficult to distinguish between what is true 
and what is false, for there is great diversity in the 
records of Persia, as given by her own historians 
and those of Greece. This is especially the case in 
the rendering of proper names, of which a striking 
example is seen in the various ways of expressing 
the name of Cyrus. In general, a comparison of 
the two records seems to indicate that greater reli- 
ance can be placed upon the statements of the Greek 
historians, although, doubtless, often exaggerated. 
But the Persian method of giving Persian proper 
names is, on the other hand, far more correct; to 

82 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 83 

adopt it, however, in this volume in the case of names 
already familiar to us under other forms, seems in 
the present case unadvisable, and thus we shall say- 
Cyrus instead of Ke'i Khosroo, and Darius Hystaspes 
instead of Dara Gushtasp, and Artaxerxes instead 
of Ardesheer, and, of course, Alexander instead of 
Iskender. 

Nor is it expedient in a volume of this size to go 
into a discussion concerning the discrepancies or 
historic difficulties that exist between the records 
of the Persian and the Greek or classic historians. 
But the writer will give a simple statement of the 
facts which appear to him most likely to be the true 
ones, and generally those which European scholars 
have accepted as belonging most correctly to the 
history of Persia since the commencement of the 
reign of Cyrus. 

At the time of the birth of Cyrus the territory of 
Persia appears to have included the provinces of 
Fars or Pars, and Iran or Irak, which is now the 
centre of present Persia, and was called from it by 
the Persians themselves Iran,* evidently another way 
of pronouncing Aryan. Besides this, it extended 
to the shores of the Persian Gulf, and probably over 
part of Assyria and Arabia on the south, and in the 
east over part if not all of the country now called 
Afghanistan. In the northwest, Media and Ar- 
menia and the adjacent provinces of Asia Minor 
formed the kingdom of Media, with the capital at 
Ecbatana, now called Hamadan. Media seems to 

* This word is spelled thus in this volume in accordance with ac- 
cepted usage ; but it is pronounced by Persians, Erau. 



84 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

have held close relations with Persia, but was prac- 
tically independent, and at that time was ruled by 
Astyages. Directly north of Iran was the moun- 
tainous region of the Elborz, called by the Greeks 
Hyrcania, which was only partially subdued by and 
in a constant state of insurrection against Persia. 
On the northeast was the vast region called by the 
Persians Touran, of whose wars with Iran so much 
has been related on the previous pages. It is 
probable that the beginnings of the Persian empire 
were partly in that region ; the early legends sug- 
gest this. The Touranians were Tartars or Turks, 
whose mounted hosts many times since then have 
invaded and devastated the territories of Iran, al- 
though such has been the vitality of the Persian race 
that it has proved impossible for the Touranians to 
remain long as conquerors on the soil of Iran. By 
the Greeks the Touranians were called Scythians, 
Massagetae, and Saccae. 

Such was the condition of Central Asia at the 
time when Kei Khosroo, or Cyrus, called the Elder, 
was born. In the previous chapter we have learned 
the Persian account of the parentage and early life 
of Cyrus. Greek historians state that he was the 
grandson of Astyages, while Persians record that his 
grandfather was Afrasiab. Both accounts resemble 
each other in the particulars of his infancy and 
youth, and for this reason it seems preferable to be- 
lieve that in boyhood Cyrus led a humble life among 
the mountains with shepherds, although modern 
historians are inclined to reject entirely the stories 
about his infancy, as fictitious. 



86 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

By Greek historians, as well as modern writers, 
it has been the custom to regard Cyrus as the 
founder of the Persian empire. This is only meas- 
urably true. That the Persian people, as one of the 
great representative branches of the so-called Aryan 
race, had existed as a distinct nation for ages before 
the coming of Cyrus, there is no sound reason for 
doubting. 

But at the same time, as indicated above, another 
branch of the Aryan race, called the Medes, had es- 
tablished themselves northwest of Persis, or the orig- 
inal seat of the subsequent Persian empire, which is 
now partially represented by the province of Fars. 
At the birth of Cyrus the Medes had already reached 
a good degree of civilization and power. Their capi- 
tal of Ecbatana, now called Hamadan, was surround- 
ed by seven walls, and contained magnificent pal- 
aces. Cyaxares, a Median king,* carried his arms 
as far west as the Mediterranean, and although 
obliged to retire in consequence of. a total eclipse, 
580 B.C., which threw his army into confusion, yet he 
made such an impression on the minds of the Greeks, 
that for centuries later they called all Persians alike, 
by the name of Medes. It is recorded of Cyaxares 
that he was the first Asiatic monarch to introduce 
a regular organization in the conduct of war, divid- 
ing his troops into distinct battalions according to 
the arms they bore, and also making the infantry an 
important branch of the service. It seems that pre- 
vious to that period the vast desert uplands of Cen- 

* There is little question that the Cyaxares of the Greek historians is 
the Kel Kaoos o*f Persian legend. 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 87 

tral Asia had suggested the use only of mounted 
troops. We may infer from this fact also that at 
this time those parts of Asia began to be traversed 
by made roads, facilitating the movements of trade 
and war. 

It was during the reign of Cyaxares, and while he 
was absent invading Assyria, that the Touranians' 
made one of their frequent invasions into Persia, and 
for a time held Media under a tyranny so galling 
that Cyaxares was at last impelled to destroy them 
by a stratagem that was peculiarly Oriental. He 
ordained a grand banquet in the pleasure halls of 
Ecbatana, for it appears that the Touranians had 
imprudently permitted him not only to survive his 
subjection to their power, but also left him some 
semblance of wealth and authority. To this ban- 
quet were invited the Touranian chieftains, where 
they were plied with wine until intoxicated ; while 
they were in this state Cyaxares gave the signal, and 
a troop of warriors issued from a place of conceal- 
ment and cut them to pieces. This tragedy was fol- 
lowed by a general rising of the Medes and the ex- 
pulsion of their Touranian tyrants. 

It was among the Medes that the famous sect of 
the fire-worshippers first took root in the Persian 
race. This religion is said by some to have origi- 
nated in Atropatene, now represented by the north- 
west province of modern Persia, called Azerbaijan. 
But this is probably an error, as the peculiar doc- 
trines of the sect seem to have previously existed 
far in the East, in Bactria or beyond. But as there is 
no doubt that Zoroaster or Zerdusht was the founder 



55 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

of this religion in Persia, and as he was a native of 
Atropatene, it may be inferred that he travelled in 
the Bactria, and brought thence the ideas on which 
he built a religious system which continues to exist 
to our time and is acknowledged to be one of the 
great fundamental religions of the world. While the 
fire-worshippers made fire the symbol of the Al- 
mighty, yet it would be an error to conclude that 
that this was all that was included in their creed ; 
for Zoroaster laid down many rules of morality, and 
in the commentaries he either wrote or collected, 
suggested profound theories about the All Ruler 
of the universe and the destiny of man. The priest- 
hood of this sect were called mobeds or magi, and 
formed a distinct community who had great influ- 
ence and power. 

But while Media and Persis had thus side by side 
represented the Aryan race for ages, yet Cyrus may 
perhaps be justly considered the founder of the 
Persian monarchy of the great Achemenian line, as 
he, being the fourth in descent from Achemenes, or of 
a prominent chief of that name, succeeded in uniting 
the Median and the Persian branches of the Aryan 
race under one sceptre, and gave to the now united 
empire the name of his own country. There is 
reason to believe that Cyrus succeeded in over- 
coming Astyages, the king of the Medes, by the 
treachery of Harpagus, a Median dignitary of high 
rank. After their union with Persia, the Medians 
in turn instructed their conquerors in the arts of 
civilization. 

Greek historians have ascribed many noble quali- 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 89 

ties to Cyrus, which a wider knowledge of Oriental 
history than they possessed leads us to consider as 
impossible in an Eastern monarch. The exaggerated 
statements of classic historians regarding Cyrus are 
due quite as much to the fact that he was the first 
Persian king with whom the Greeks came into direct 
collision as to his real greatness. For the same 
reason we learn from the Greeks far more of Cyrus 
and his successors than of the Persian kings whom 
modern historians speak of as legendary, of whom so 
much has been recorded on previous pages of this 
volume. It is as decided a mistake to consider the 
Persian nation to have begun with Cyrus as to com- 
mence the history of England with William the 
Conqueror. 

But while saying this much in favor of the im- 
portance of that portion of the history of Persia 
which the Greek historians neglected to notice, we 
may well grant that Cyrus was undoubtedly a mon- 
arch of unusual ability, and a conqueror whose ex- 
ploits have justly merited immortality. The reign 
of Cyrus seems to have begun about the year 558 
B.C., and to have continued thirty years. Having 
subdued the kingdom of Media, Cyrus turned his 
attention to the Touranians, and this may have been 
the war to which Persian historians refer, which he 
undertook, according to their legends, in order to 
avenge the death of his father. It was after this 
that Cyrus undertook the great war against the 
Greek colonial states along the western shores of 
Asia Minor previously threatened by Cyaxares, 
thus for the first time bringing the two civili- 



90 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

zations of Europe and Asia into direct contact, 
for these Ionians, Dorians, and Lydians of Asia 
Minor had brought their arts and customs from 
Greece, and in their character were Europeans 
rather than Asiatics. Croesus, King of Lydia, was at 
this time ruler of Asia Minor west of the river Halys, 
having united all the Greek colonies in that region 
under one sceptre. He seems to have been a man 
of uncommon ability, as well as ambition. The 
rising greatness of Cyrus began to arouse the atten- 
tion of Croesus, and he consulted the famous oracle 
at Delphi for guidance in this crisis of his affairs; 
crisis it was indeed, for the boundaries of Persia and 
Lydia were gradually drawing nearer, and the ambi- 
tion of two such restless monarchs foretold a conflict 
between them. 

Although Croesus paid large sums of gold out of 
his almost fabulous treasures in order to draw a fav- 
orable reply from the oracle, the crafty pythoness or 
priestess of Apollo would pronounce nothing more 
definite than that if Croesus made war on Persia he 
would destroy a great empire. This was sufficiently 
vague, but Croesus assuming it meant that the empire 
to suffer would be that of Cyrus, instead of reflecting 
that possibly it might be his own, declared war and 
invaded the dominions of Cyrus. After an indecisive 
campaign, Croesus was preparing to obtain auxiliaries 
from Egypt ; but it was here that Cyrus displayed 
military genius ; for he followed his antagonist so 
closely, although still his equal in the field, that 
Croesus was forced to fight a great battle at Thym- 
bra, where he was defeated and shut up in Sardis, 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 9 1 

his capital. At the end of fourteen days Sardis sur- 
rendered and was burned ; and the Greek colonies 
came under the rule of Persia, to which they con- 
tinued subject for centuries. Cyrus seems to have 
shown greatness of soul in his treatment of Croesus, 
who although taken to Persia was treated with kind- 
ness and distinction until his death at a great age. 
Such was the varied career of a king whose wealth 
was so vast even for a monarch, that it has passed 
into a proverb. 

The next exploit of Cyrus, which probably con- 
tributed more than any other since the origin of 
Persia to elevate its civilization and give it a perma- 
nent character, was the capture of Babylon, the 
ancient capital of the consolidated empire of 
Babylon and Assyria. This great metropolis is re- 
corded to have covered an area of seventy square 
miles on each side of the river Euphrates. It is 
probable, judging from the character of most 
Oriental cities, that much of this space was 
covered with extensive gardens, either for orchards 
and grazing fields or pleasure grounds around the 
extensive mansions of the nobles as well as of the 
palaces of the sovereign. But, in any case, there 
can be no question that Babylon contained a vast 
population and was decorated with many superb pal- 
aces and sumptuous temples, of which the most promi- 
nent was the famous tower of Bel, or Belus, the god, 
which was reputed to be one of the seven won- 
ders of the world. It was constructed in eight sep- 
arate towers, one over the other ; and the topmost 
was the chamber of the god, containing furniture of 
solid gold. 



92 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

The city was surrounded by the most extraordin- 
ary walls of defence the world has seen. They 
were constructed of bricks, cemented with bitumen 
instead of mortar, and were of enormous height and 
thickness, and surrounded by a deep ditch. Against 
the military engines of those times the fortifications 
of Babylon were impregnable. All the streets lead- 
ing to the river banks were also closed with gates of 
brass. The great gardens of the city were capa- 
ble of raising provisions to enable the city to resist 
a siege for an indefinite period. 

Stratagem was the only way to capture this great 
city. In this instance Cyrus was aided in his plans 
by the sense of security which caused the besieged 
to relax their vigilance ; and it is also likely that 
treachery, so common a vice among Asiatics, came 
to the aid of the designs of Cyrus. The Persian king 
had besieged Babylon for nearly two years, and 
seemed no nearer the attainment of his object than 
when he sat down before its gates with a vast army. 
To storm the walls was out of the question ; to 
starve the garrison was hopeless ; but to retire from 
the siege was for Persia to confess that she had 
reached the limit of her conquests. 

Again it was genius that assisted Cyrus ; to an 
ordinary general the plan he now devised for the 
capture of Babylon could not have occurred. His 
scheme was to turn the course of the Euphrates and 
enter the city by marching along the bed of the 
river on anight when it was the custom for 'all 
Babylon to abandon itself annually to revelry, from 
the king to the lowest soldier. Such is the size of 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 



93 



the Euphrates, that only a genius of the most daring 
character could have dreamed of such an enterprise 
and successfully achieved it. There was a lake in 
the vicinity of Babylon which had been excavated by 
Nebuchadnezzar to contain the waters of the river, 
while he was facing the banks within the walls with 
bricks. Between the lake and river was a canal; 
both lake and canal were probably dry at this time, 
and the river was prevented from entering them by a 
high broad embankment. As soon as night set in, 




DARIUS HUNTS. 



probably a long night in winter, Cyrus ordered a 
large division of his host to break down the dam. 
The size of his army may be inferred from the fact 
that while there were enough present to open a 
passage for the Euphrates into the lake by mid- 
night, large divisions were stationed where the river 
entered and left the city, with orders to march up 
the dry bed into the heart of the capital. Even after 
proceeding thus far, this desperate enterprise might 
have failed, and the Persian army been utterly de- 



94 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

stroyed, if the brass gates of the streets leading to 
the river had been closed. Notwithstanding the 
general revelry that reigned throughout the city, it 
is too much to believe that all these gates were left 
open. It is more probable that one or two only 
were carelessly neglected, or that Cyrus had suc- 
ceeded in bribing some of the garrison. 

Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, was in his palace 
surrounded by his wives and the nobles of the 
empire. The pillared halls were lit by the glare of 
myriad lights, and the splendor of the occasion was 
increased by the gleam of vessels of silver and gold, 
by jewels accumulated for ages, and the responsive 
flash of eyes more glorious than the diamonds of 
Ind. The beat of timbrels, the songs of dancing 
girls, rang before the couch where the voluptuous 
monarch reposed, little imagining that he was fling- 
ing away the treasures, the power, the crown, and 
the life inherited from a long dynasty of kings. 

At that moment, as the sacred Scriptures record, 
Belshazzar was struck dumb by a vision of strange 
and awful portent. On the wall of his palace he 
beheld emblazoned in letters of fire the mysterious 
words, "mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." When 
the king could recover his speech, he hoarsely com- 
manded the astrologers and wise men of Babylon to 
be summoned into his presence and promised that 
he among them who should rightly interpret those 
words should have a chain of gold and be promoted 
to the highest office in the gift of the king. 

The words were Chaldaean and easily understood ; 
the question was to interpret what was their appli- 



JCEI JtHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 95 

cation on this occasion. It is probable that the in- 
terpretation was understood by all the wise men, but 
only one dared incur the terrible wrath of an Eastern 
king by repeating the interpretation to Belshazzar. 
That man was Daniel, who declared that the mys- 
terious words foretold the approaching downfall and 
death of Belshazzar himself. To the honor of the 
haughty monarch, instead of ordering Daniel to be 
slain for so fearlessly pronouncing his doom, he kept 
the promise he had made. This remarkable scene 
is not mentioned by other historical writers, but 
there is no good reason for doubting that Belshaz- 
zar, perhaps in a drunken frenzy, beheld before his 
mind's eye a wild vision, whose interpretation he 
demanded of the astrologers. Such an event is 
quite in accordance with the general tenor of Orien- 
tal history. 

But while these scenes were transpiring in the 
banqueting-halls of the imperial palace, platoons of 
Persian troops were marching along the dry bed of 
the Euphrates and stealthily approaching the royal, 
abode. When at last the fearful cry ran forth over 
the city, that the foe was within the very walls of 
Babylon itself, the capital was already doomed. 
Resistance was in vain. From street to street, from 
hall to hall, the Persians swarmed sWord in hand. 
The revellers, fled in all directions for safety, and 
everywhere encountered the enemy fierce and irresist- 
ible. Belshazzar was slain on the steps of his throne, 
and his wives were carried into captivity. 

This great event occurred 538 B.C. When we con- 
sider the condition of the art of war in those times, 



96 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the character of the defences of Babylon, and the 
superiority of her civilization over that of Persia at 
that period, we must conclude that the capture of 
Babylon was one of the most remarkable military 
achievements of all ages, and that Cyrus must be 
awarded a position among the greatest generals in 
history. 

After these events Cyrus was engaged in fresh 
wars with the hereditary enemies of Persia in the 
north and east, and seems to have extended his 
arms as far as India. The accounts of his death are 
conflicting. But it is generally accepted that he was 
killed in a great battle with the Touranians. Some 
historians call the people with whom he was engaged 
at the time, the Massagetae ; others, the Derbices or 
the Saccae. In either case it was undoubtedly one 
of the numerous tribes of Touran. Persian legends 
confirm this statement of the death of Cyrus, for 
they say that towards the close of his life he re- 
signed the throne and mysteriously disappeared into 
philosophic retirement in the north. As the Persian 
historians, according to their custom, would be in- 
clined to say little that would be against one of their 
favorite heroes, this is evidently the way they have 
taken to explain his defeat and death. 

But the battle, whether a defeat or indecisive for 
the Persians, does not appear to have been so over- 
whelming an overthrow as to prevent them from 
bringing back the body of the great warrior and 
king to be buried in his native land. That Cyrus 
was buried at Passargadse, his capital, there is no 
doubt, for a marble tomb is still standing there in 



KEI KHOSROO, OR CYRUS. 97 

the plain of Murgab, which has in all ages been 
reputed to be the last resting-place of Cyrus. We al- 
so know that Passargad, or Passargadae, as the Greeks 
called it, was the capital of Persia during his reign, 
notwithstanding that some historians state that after 
the capture of Babylon Cyrus removed his court to 
Susa or Sushan, near the Euphrates. But as Per- 
sepolis, which was also in the plain of Murgab, was, 
until the conquest of Alexander, the real capital of 
Persia, Susa was probably only one of the numer- 
ous resorts which it continues to be the custom of 
the kings of Persia to establish in various parts of 
their dominions, and embellish them with sumptuous 
palaces, and gardens. 

It is interesting to learn from the Greek historians 
who accompanied Alexander the Great to Persepolis, 
that in their time the tomb of Cyrus was still in 
good preservation, surrounded by shade trees. On 
entering the tomb they found the body of the con- 
queror in a coffin of gold, guarded by magi, or 
priests. Around it were a golden couch, a table 
with dishes, embroidered robes, and costly swords. 
On the tomb was inscribed : " O, man, I am Cyrus, 
who won dominion for the Persians, and was King of 
Asia. Grudge not this monument then to me." 




VIII. 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. 



WHEN one turns over the records of history, and 
studies the career of the men and women who alter- 
nately inspire admiration or disgust, love or aversion, 
there is no fact that becomes more impressed on the 
mind than the great contrasts that constantly occur 
in the characters of those to whom, as rulers, has 
been entrusted the happiness and welfare of men. 
The greatest monarchs, they who have been most 
prominent as benefactors, have often been succeeded 
by sons who have been monsters, revelling in injustice 
and blood. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the best of 
all the emperors of Rome, the purest and noblest of 
heathen kings, was followed by Commodus, one of 
the most ignorant and brutal tyrants that has cursed 
the earth. In like manner Cyrus, who was undoubt- 
edly one of the most beneficent of Oriental sovereigns, 
was succeeded by his son Cambyses, whose extraor- 
dinary career presents a marvel of human folly and 
wickedness. 

He found Persia entering upon a period of rare 
prosperity, but requiring to be for a time at rest, in 
order to consolidate the vast conquests of Cyrus. 
Cambyses seems, however, to have had his reason 



MAP OF THE 

PERSIAN EMPIRE 

AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT. 




East from 55 Greenwich 60 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. 99 

affected by coming into possession of such power. 
He began his reign by organizing an immense 
armament of armies and fleets against Egypt. The 
Egyptians were defeated, in a great battle at Pelu- 
sium, the gate to their country, and Psammetticus, 
the king of this unhappy people, was cruelly slain, 
after Cambyses entered the capital. We say un- 
happy in speaking of the Egyptians, for no people 
were ever more harshly treated by a conqueror than 
they were when the hosts of Persia encamped on the 
banks of the Nile and profaned the majestic temples 
of Thebes. 

Having entirely subjugated the country, Cambyses 
pushed his conquests far to the south, among the 
burning plains of Nubia, called in those times ./Ethi- 
opia ; the objective point of the expedition was the 
Temple of Jupiter Ammon, in the southwest, and 
^Ethiopia, in the south, the latter division being 
under the charge of Cambyses himself. He pene- 
trated as far as Meroe. The former army vanished 
in the desert, victims to thirst and the deadly 
simoom. The latter division was also overcome by 
hunger, and forced to return. The hardships of this 
expedition seemed to increase the caprice and cruelty 
of Cambyses. There was no people so superstitious, 
so addicted to the most minute religious ceremonies, 
so absorbed in a profound veneration for the gods 
or the sacred symbols, as the Egyptians. Cam- 
byses left no means untried to outrage every object 
they considered sacred. When the people of Mem- 
phis were engaged in rejoicing at the appearance of 
the bull they worshipped as Apis, Cambyses himself 



100 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



slew that sacred animal with a stroke of his poignard. 
He also gave himself up to the most brutal excesses. 
In the midst of this career of unbridled debauch- 
ery, the tyrant dreamed that his brother Smerdis had 
conspired against him in his absence from Persia, 
and seized the throne. Without any confirmation of 
his dream, Cambyses sent Prexaspis, one of his near 




GATEWAY OF XERXES (PERSEPOLIS). 

officers, to Persepolis, who, without trial or examina- 
tion, caused the unfortunate Smerdis to be secretly 
beheaded. When Atossa, the sister and wife of 
Cambyses, heard of this atrocious deed, she up- 
braided her husband for his wickedness. He only 
replied by kicking her so violently in the stomach that 
she died. Deciding to return at once to Persia, 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. 101 

Cambyses in turn received a mortal wound from his 
naked sword while in the act of mounting his horse. 

Thus the empire of Persia, in a critical period of 
its existence, was left without a king or any direct heir 
to the sceptre. But when the news of the death of 
Cambyses reached Persia, an extraordinary event 
occurred. Although a state secret, yet the death of 
Smerdis appears to have been known to some of the 
magi. One of them bore a striking resemblance to 
the murdered brother of Cambyses, and he now 
usurped the throne, and for over a year succeeded 
in avoiding suspicion. But the false Smerdis, for a 
reason which was afterwards revealed, kept himself 
so closely in the ark or citadel of the capital, that 
Otanes, a Persian nobleman, had his suspicions 
aroused. Aware that there was a magian who re- 
sembled Smerdis, it occurred to Otanes that perhaps 
Smerdis had been made away with by a conspiracy 
of the magi, who had thus got the power into their 
own hands. If this were so then the false Smerdis 
could be detected, because he had been deprived of 
his ears. Phaedyma, a daughter of Otanes, had been 
one of the wives of Cambyses. When the false 
Smerdis usurped the throne, he also, according to 
custom, married the wives of the late king. At 
the request of her father, Phsedyma felt of the head 
of the usurper when he was asleep. She thus ob- 
tained convincing proof of the true character of him 
who had so boldly aspired to sit on the throne of 
Cyrus and Djemsheed. 

After this revelation a conspiracy of seven nobles 
connected with leading families of Persia was formed, 



102 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

who speedily murdered the false Smerdis. Persia 
was again without a ruler. The crisis was desperate. 
Here was a vast empire composed of many opposing 
elements and ready to fall to pieces on the first 
opportunity ; while those magnates of the empire 
who were best fitted to be selected to succeed to the 
crown were naturally ambitious to grasp the oppor- 
tunity themselves, and so jealous of their rivals that 
a civil war, attended with the most disastrous results, 
seemed exceedingly probable. The difficulty was 
avoided by a device as ingenious as it was creditable. 
The seven conspirators agreed to select one from 
their own number to be possessor of Persia. Various 
accounts are given of the way in which the election 
was made. Some records state that they decided 
to meet at sunrise, and he whose horse should neigh 
first should be adjudged the winner. Owing to the 
cunning of the groom of Darius, his horse first gave 
the auspicious signal, and thus raised him in a mo- 
ment from a mere subject to absolute ruler of one of 
the largest of the world's empires. But as Darius 
was distantly connected with the Achemenian line, 
the only one of the seven in whose veins coursed the 
blood royal, it is more likely that the other six pre- 
ferred to settle the succession on him rather than 
allow such a prize to one of merely equal rank with 
themselves. 

Whatever the cause which led to the selection of 
Darius,* the result of this event proved of great ad- 

* In the original Persian this name is spelled Darayavalm. Most 
of the ancient Persian names have come down to us through Greek 
and Latin sources, and are often very unlike the original. 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. IO3 

vantage to Persia. The young king, for he was at 
this time only about thirty years of age, showed 
himself at once to be a born ruler of men, a great 
soldier, and an administrator of vast capacity. He 
was also a man whose ambition seems to have been 
tempered with patriotism, and, unlike many Oriental 
monarchs, he did not allow his unlimited power to 
degenerate into reckless and ruthless cruelty. 

Darius found the great empire which had come 
into his hands torn by dissensions, or falling apart for 
lack of a strong arm to hold its various inharmonious 
elements together. He set to work with amazing 
vigor and ability to restore peace and order, and left 
behind him a record which stamps him as one of the 
greatest sovereigns in history, if not the most re- 
markable ruler who has sat on the throne of Persia. 

For a knowledge of many of the exploits and suc- 
cesses of Darius we are indebted to an inscription 
which he caused to be engraved on a tablet, or smooth 
surface, on the famous rock of Behistoon. From this 
inscription we learn that Darius had to encounter 
and suppress revolts in Sardis, Susiana, and Babylo- 
nia, Arachosia and Media, Parthia and Hyrcania, 
and even in Persia, the original seat of the empire. 
But one after another they were subdued by the 
herculean grasp and genius of Darius, who did not 
hesitate at the same time to order the execution of 
Intaphernes and all his family. Intaphernes. was 
one of the six confederates who had elevated Darius 
to the throne ; for this reason he seems to have 
thought he could treat him with less respect. But 
Darius, who well knew that an Oriental king can only 



104 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

hold power by exacting every iota of respect and 
subservience that is due to him, soon showed the 
great Persian nobleman the fatal error he had made, 
by condemning him and his kinsfolk to instant death. 
The custom which has so widely prevailed in the East, 
of making the innocent members of the family of a 
criminal suffer punishment with him, may have been 
based on good reasons suggested by a pitiless ex- 
pediency. One reason may have been that by exter- 
minating an entire family no survivor was left to 
avenge the fate of the chief offender. A more solid 
reason probably lay in the fact that, as Oriental fam- 
ilies are organized, the head of it rarely took any 
important steps or entered into a conspiracy without 
consulting with most of the members of his family, 
who perhaps not only approved, but also instigated 
him to pursue such a perilous path, and were there- 
fore practically participants in the offence. 

After reducing the entire empire once more to 
subjection, Darius devoted himself like a patriotic 
ruler to the improvement of the condition of his 
people. He organized the numerous provinces of 
Persia under governors called khshathrapavan, 
which the Greeks shortened to satrap. These sa- 
traps lived with great pomp and wielded much 
power. They were permitted to command the 
armed contingents of their respective provinces, but 
the fortresses were invariably held by troops of the 
king. Reports were regularly rendered to the sov- 
ereign by officers specially commissioned by him, 
and thus while apparently independent rulers, the 
satraps were held in check. The system was the 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. 105 

most complete that had yet been seen in Asia. 
Darius also introduced a more careful method of 
taxation than what had previously existed in Persia. 
Each province was obliged to render a fixed portion 
of its revenue to the crown. For most of these facts 
we are indebted to the celebrated rock chronicle of 
Behistoon. 

After reorganizing the great empire of Persia, the 
soaring genius of Darius was not satisfied to remain 
idle. His energies were such that the stated busi- 
ness of his position was insufficient to occupy his 
mind and he entered upon a series of foreign expedi- 
tions and conquests. He extended the boundaries 
of his empire eastward as far as the Indus. After 
this he undertook to subdue the vast wastes now 
called Russia in Europe, which went by the name of 
Scythia with classic writers. A bridge of boats was 
built across the Thracian Bosphorus. Darius con- 
ducted the expedition in person. The Scythians, 
wild hordes mounted on horses as wild as them- 
selves, fled before the hosts of Persia. But if Darius 
had been less ignorant of the inclemency of the 
climate and the worthlessness of those steppes that 
seemed to extend without end towards the North 
Star, he would not have undertaken such a barren 
conquest. He was forced to return, rather in- 
gloriously it must be confessed ; but it was nature 
and not man that brought about this result ; it was 
the wild climate, that, in later ages wrecked the 
fortunes of Charles IX. and Napoleon, which drove 
the great king of Persia back to the shores of the 
Euxine. More fortunate than they, however, he 



io6 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



was able to return unmolested to Thrace, which he 
not only subdued, but reduced all the Greek colonies 
on the northern shores of the yEgean, and obliged 
the king of Macedonia to yield allegiance to him. 
Thus, while baffled in Scythia, Darius was yet able at 
the close of this expedition to boast sovereignty from 
the Nile to the Oxus, and from Macedonia to India. 
A glance at the map will indi- 
cate the vastness of the terri- 
tory commanded by the skilled 
brain of Darius of Persia. 

If Darius had been content 
to rest on his laurels after this, 
he might well be considered 
one of the few men who have 
been specially favored by des- 
tiny. But few are they who 
know when they have reached 
the limit of success — norwashe 
an exception. Still, in the ex- 
pedition which he nowlaunched 
against Greece, it must be said 
in his favor that up to this 
time he had been able to 
cope successfully with the 
Greeks. Even . on the sea, where Asiatics in all 
ages have been inferior to mariners of European 
races, Darius had proved victorious. The great 
naval battle of Lade, to which the Greeks led three 
hundred and fifty-three galleys, was decided so de- 
cisively in his favor, that he was able to place at his 
feet all the revolted Greek states of the western coast 




HEAD OF DARIUS. 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS J. 107 

and isles of Asia Minor. The city of Miletus was 
captured after a long siege, and the inhabitants were 
sold into slavery. 

The evil genius of Darius was the great and ambi- 
tious noble Mardonius, a man of brilliant abilities, 
who urged the king to continue his war against the 
Greeks, by sending an army of invasion across the 
^Egean, to attack the plucky little states that held 
the purple crags of Greece on their own soil — states 
that had grown strong by frequent wars among 
themselves. It is impossible for one to consider the 
character of the Greeks at that time without enthusi- 
asm. No one who has in him a spark of poetry, of 
sentiment, of romance, or who is capable of admiring 
freedom and heroism, can avoid a thrill of pleasure 
as he pores over the history of Greece at the period 
when she crossed arms with the glittering hosts of 
Central Asia. Nor were the armies of Persia, in the 
time of Darius, unworthy of the Titanic conflict 
which was now about to begin. If the Persian generals 
depended upon numbers to win, more than upon 
military discipline and intricate knowledge of the 
art of war, yet no braver men than they existed, and 
the valiant hosts they led deserved to conquer, if 
victory be the invariable reward of courage. That 
the Persians were unable to maintain themselves in 
Greece was due to the fact that their smaller num- 
bers had made it easy for the Greeks to reach a 
high order of military training, together with the 
fact that the invaders met them on their native 
soil, defending it with the desperation of lions 
driven to bay. It must be remembered, also, that 



^/ 



108 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

in the accounts of these wars between Persia and 
and Greece we are obliged to depend almost 
entirely upon the statements of the Greek historians, 
who quite likely exaggerated, perhaps unconsciously, 
the merit of their own side, and the numbers to 
which they were opposed. 

According to Herodotus, and other Greek writers, 
the expedition which Darius sent against Greece, in 
the year 490 B.C., was commanded by Datis and 
Artaphernes, and numbered 100,000 men. Doubtless 
the army which was actually landed at Marathon 
was considerably less, for thousands must be sub- 
tracted as mariners and rowers of the fleet, besides 
the servants of the officers. On the whole, it seems 
to the writer very improbable that the army which 
the Greeks fought at Marathon was over 50,000 
men, and probably less than that ; for the number 
of Persians who fell in the battle was only about 
6,000 men, which was a very small proportion for a 
defeated army of 100,000 to lose in the bloody con- 
flicts of those times. 

The Greek army numbered at least 10,000, mas- 
sively clad in brass and steel, and commanded by a 
hero named Miltiades. It was a weakness of the 
Athenian military organization that their armies 
were often under the lead of several generals, who 
took command on alternate days. It was fortunate 
for Greece that on this decisive day Miltiades was in 
command. His little army was deployed in one 
long line with the cliffs behind them, and the Per- 
sian fleet drawn up on the beach in front of them. 
Before the Persians had fairly deployed their pla- 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS J. 



109 



toons on the sea-shore, Miltiades gave the order to 
charge. Singing the paean of victory, the Greeks 
rushed across the narrow interval between the two 
armies. Brave as they were, the Persians were un- 
able to withstand the serried spears that bore them 
to the ground. They were thrown back on the fleet, 
and all was now confusion and dismay. With loud 
appeals, the generals vainly sought to rally the flying 
masses of fugitive Persians, while the mariners strove 




PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE. — FROM THE TOMB OF DARIUS I. 

to force the galleys into the water before the Greeks 
could burn them with the torches they hurled 
through the air on the decks. Many of the Greeks 
were slain, and a brother of vEschylus, the poet, lost 
a hand as he grasped the gunwale of one of the ships. 
In the end, the Persians were able to withdraw with 
most of the fleet and the army. 

A wounded messenger started from Marathon to 
carry the news to Athens, where wives and children 
were anxiously awaiting tidings of the battle, on 
which hung the fate of their homes. He ran the 



HO THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

entire distance without stopping, until in the market- 
place of Athens, he cried to the waiting throng: 
"The day is ours! " and fell dead. 

As we look back over the ages that have come 
and gone since that glorious event, we are better 
able to judge of its importance in shaping the 
world's progress than were they who were actors in 
the great drama of Marathon. For Darius was a 
man of far superior force than Xerxes, and if he had 
succeeded in mastering Greece at a time when Persia 
was at the zenith of her glory, his genius might have 
entirely transformed the destiny of Greece at a criti- 
cal period of her intellectual development. JEschy- 
lus, who participated in the battle, and composed a 
magnificent drama founded on the conflict of Mara- 
thon, pays a very high tribute of admiration to the 
genius of Darius, notwithstanding that the Persian 
monarch had threatened the liberty of Greece. 

The remaining years of Darius the First seem 
to have been devoted to the arts of peace. He sur- 
vived the battle of Marathon about eleven years, 
and in that time must have done much to promote 
the prosperity of his vast dominions. If Darius did 
not found the magnificent palace at Persepolis, 
whose ruins are to this day one of the marvels of 
the ages, it is highly probable that he did much to 
enlarge and beautify its noble terraces and colon- 
nades. The clemency of his disposition and the 
ability he displayed in the choice of the high func- 
tionaries who ruled under him, must have done 
much to add to the repose which Persia enjoyed 
during the closing years of the great king. He died 



FROM CYRUS TO DARIUS I. 



Ill 



in 479 B - c -> i n the fortieth year of his reign, and 
was buried in the elaborate rock tomb which he had 
caused to be excavated in the steep hillsides that 
overlooked the superb palaces where he had gath- 
ered the spoils of a long career of conquest and 
glory. 




IrC^^l 


si? 


C^?~ 




\ W^\ 


^^^M\ 


<=<V tt).1.-v. 


V>^S"^^K 



IX. 



XERXES. 



DARIUS I. left a son named Xerxes, or, as the Per- 
sians pronounced the word, Khshayarsha. He was a 
son of Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, and as 
such was doubly heir to the throne. But he was a de- 
generate scion of a noble line. Perhaps the great 
contrast between him and his father might have been 
less apparent, in history at least, if he had' been con- 
tent to follow a career suited to his moderate ability 
and enervated character. The vast enterprise that 
has rendered his name famous does not, however, 
altogether prove, as some undertake to show, that he 
was utterly unworthy to succeed to the throne, for 
foreign conquest had become the policy of Persia, 
and it was only natural that he should undertake to 
follow in the steps of his distinguished predecessors. 
The failure of Darius, a far greater man than Xerxes, 
in the invasion of Greece, showed that the ill-success 
of Xerxes in his expedition against Greece was due 
as much to the desperate character of such a tre- 
mendous undertaking, as to his own lack of ability 
to conduct a great foreign war at a long distance 
from his capital. It must also be admitted that 
Xerxes exhibited some talent in selecting the officers 



XERXES. 1 1 3 

suited to command his forces. It seems proper to 
say this much in his favor, because history appears 
to have been a little inclined to be too severe in its 
judgment of the character of this unfortunate mon- 
arch. Some of the absurdities with which he is 
charged are also palliated by the superstitions and 
beliefs of the age in which he lived. Certainly the 
Greek historians who believed that nymphs dwelt in 
the rivers and dryads in the woods, and that Jupiter 
and Venus and Neptune were actual beings, could 
not afford to laugh at a king who, according to their 
statements, whipped the sea when it proved unruly. 
Xerxes appears to have been a man of visionary 
and ambitious temperament rather than one of a 
character depraved beyond that of most Oriental 
monarchs. His brain was fired by the thought of 
the vast enterprises he meditated. For years before 
the death of Darius, that monarch had been making 
steady preparations for a renewal of the invasion 
of Greece. The vast armaments that were gathered, 
and the perpetual discussion of an event upon which 
such calculations and hopes were based, naturally 
had their effect on the mind of such a character as 
Xerxes. This is shown by the dreams that haunted 
him and aroused his apprehensions regarding the 
issue of the coming expedition. In personal bearing 
Xerxes is said by Herodotus to have been in the 
highest degree imperial ; in stature he exceeded all 
his subjects ; his features were handsome, his eye 
keen and penetrating, but his disposition was inclined 
to cruelty. Xerxes is generally considered to have 
been the Ahasuerus, whose magnificence and pecul- 



114 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

iarly Oriental caprice are so strikingly suggested in 
the Book of Esther. 

Such was the monarch who succeeded Darius Hys- 
taspes on the throne of Persia. At the very outset 
of his reign he found himself confronted by a formid- 
able revolt : Egypt had taken up arms and sought 
to throw off the Persian yoke. Xerxes himself led 
an army into Egypt and, although the Egyptians 
were good fighters, he succeeded in crushing the re- 
bellion. This event appears to indicate that he was 
not as destitute of ability as some historians have 
undertaken to prove. 

On his return from Egypt, Xerxes put his vast 
army into motion upon the greatest military enter- 
prise recorded in history. Herodotus states that 
the land and sea forces of this prodigious host, which 
had been gathered from every province of Persia's 
heterogeneous empire, numbered 2,641,000 men, 
while the sailors, muleteers, and servants amounted 
fully to the same number, making a total of over 
five millions of men. Herodotus says that the 
number was ascertained by building an enclosure at 
Doriscus which could contain ten thousand men. 
Through this the host defiled ; every time it was 
filled ten thousand men were thus told off. We think 
that the Greek chronicler was probably misinformed 
on this point. But there is no question that the 
army of Xerxes was the largest that has ever been 
collected. 

Provisions and supplies for no less than three 
years had been gathered at depots along the line of 
march ; but the difficulty of feeding such an army 



XERXES. 1 1 5 

must have been a prodigious task. That a host like 
that was transported so great a distance without ap- 
parently suffering from lack of supplies shows what 
a degree of executive ability had been infused into 
the complicated machinery of the government of 
such a vast empire, composed as it was of various 
races and kindreds and tongues. 

Another important work had been accomplished 
previous to the starting of the expedition. In those 
times navigation was slow and cautious. Instead of 
avoiding the land, sailors then hugged the shore, 
being without the compass, and depended for motive 
power as much on oars as sails. Galleys and even 
entire fleets, instead of coming to an anchor, gener- 
ally lay on the beach when in port. As the tides of 
the Mediterranean rise only a few inches, this 
process must have entailed great labor when the 
ships had to be launched to put to sea. In view of 
this system of navigation the difficulty of taking a 
fleet of 1 200 galleys across the JEgean Sea was very 
great, even although land was always in sight. But 
the ports of the Greek isles were generally not suffi- 
ciently large to hold such a fleet. The ships of 
Xerxes appear to have sailed from the Hellespont 
for Greece, skirting the northern shores of the 
^Egean, which then formed part of the Persian em- 
pire. But midway in the course, a small peninsula, 
crowned by a lofty, bold headland, over 6,000 feet 
high, called Mt. Athos, impeded the progress of the 
fleet, unless the Persian admirals were willing to row 
around this lowering cape. It was deemed more 
prudent, however, to dig a canal across the peninsula. 



Il6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

This canal was one mile and a half in length. No 
fact could more clearly indicate the cautious timidity 
of the mariners of a period which in other respects 
had made such strides in civilization. 

The events of the great Perso-Hellenic war have 
been related in detail in another volume of this 
series, but we may be permitted to give a sketch 
of the leading movements which resulted in arrest- 
ing the further progress westward of the empire of 
Iran. The vast army of Xerxes kept company with 
his fleet, along the shore, traversing, Thrace, Mace- 
donia, and Thessaly without meeting opposition. 
If Greece had been a level country, there is good 
reason to believe that the prodigious multitude of 
Asiatics would have completely overrun it like a 
cloud of locusts descending on a field and devouring 
every thing, for the Greeks, with all their courage, 
were too few in number to be able to offer successful 
resistance at once to millions of armed men. 

But Greece is one^of the most rugged and "moun- 
tainous countries in the world, and its shores are 
everywhere indented with deep bays and retired 
ports. A small army of patriots, fierce, with a pas- 
sion for defending their homes, and knowing every 
inch of their territory, was equal here to an invading 
force far exceeding it in numbers. At Thermopylae 
the Greeks decided to make their first stand. It was 
a narrow pass on the edge of a mountain, the cliffs on 
one side and the sea on the other.- Leonidas and 
ten thousand Spartans were stationed there to hold 
the pass. Thousands of Persians fell in attempting 
to force a passage. It was essential to the Persian 



XEEXES. 117 

plans to move the army through Thermopylae. But 
it is not likely they would have succeeded in the at- 
tempt, if they had not found a shepherd who was 
willing to sell his country for gold. Treachery is 
quite too common a trait of the Greek character, as 
it is of the Asiatic. This shepherd knew of a goat 
path over the mountain ridge by which Xerxes could 
send a body of men, single file, to attack the Greeks 
in the rear. When Leonidas saw that the Persians 
had turned the pass he dismissed his army, unwilling 
that Greece should lose so many valiant defenders. 
He reserved three hundred picked men, heroes who 
were willing to sell their lives for the immortal glory 
they were to win at Thermopylse. Calmly the three 
hundred bathed themselves and combed their long 
hair and readjusted their helmets and coats of mail. 
On the morrow they all fell before the irresistible 
tide of the Persian host. On the hillock where the 
last of the immortal three hundred died, the Greeks 
in later ages erected a lion of marble, overlooking 
the blue JEgean and the white sails that bore the 
fame of Greece to every land. 

On the same day the Persian and the Greek fleets 
met at Artemisium, and fought two battles with des- 
perate courage on both sides. In the first the Greeks 
were victorious, but in the second the victory inclined 
to the Persians. 

On the approach of the army of Xerxes to Athens 
the greatest consternation prevailed. The city of 
Athens was abandoned, and in obedience to the 
oracle, which declared that the safety of Greece 
lay in her wooden walls, the people embarked on 



Il8 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the fleet, interpreting the meaning of the oracle to 
be the wooden sides of their fleets. From the decks 
of the ships they saw the smoke of their burning 
homes and temples rising to the heavens. It was 
a dark day for Greece, but no days are hopelessly 
dark while the heart is warmed with hope and 
nerved with courage. 

The combined fleet of the Greeks was collected 
in the bay formed by Salamis, iEgina, and the main- 
land. And hither it was followed by the vast fleet 
of Xerxes, numbering nearly one thousand ships. 
So terrible was the crisis that the allies of the 
Athenians lost heart and were disposed to with- 
draw their contingent, in order to protect the Pelo- 
ponnesus, or southern half of Greece, and leave 
Athens to her fate. Such was the question mooted 
the night before the battle, when the captains were 
in council. It is not strange that they hesitated to 
hazard the fate of all Greece upon a single blow, for 
doubtless if Xerxes had won at Salamis the whole 
country would have been at his feet. 

At this critical hour, Themistocles, the chief cap- 
tain of the Athenians, stole away from the council 
and secretly despatched a messenger to Xerxes to 
inform him of the proposed flight of half the Greek 
fleet. On learning of this, Xerxes did exactly what 
Themistocles had expected. He ordered a portion 
of his fleet to be drawn in a line across the mouth of 
the strait, thus effectually closing the passage by 
which the allies intended to withdraw their ships. 
On learning of the manoeuvre of the enemy, the 
Greeks saw that they were in a trap, and that the 
only thing left for them to do was to fight. 



120 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

The battle was of the most desperate character. 
Although inferior in numbers, the Greeks made up 
for the disparity by superior discipline and skill. 
On the side of the Persians, was Artemisia, Queen of 
Caria, who commanded her own fleet, and greatly 
distinguished herself by her courage and superior 
ability in manoeuvring. When her galley was chased 
by the Greeks, and on the point of capture, this 
heroine, with great presence of mind, ordered the 
helmsman to steer directly into a Persian ship and 
run it down with the iron beak of her own ship. 
When the Greek captains saw this, they imagined 
that they were pursuing one of their own ships and 
stopped the chase. The Persians were encouraged 
by the circumstance that they were fighting under 
the gaze of their king, who would not hesitate to 
flay alive every coward, for Xerxes beheld the bat- 
tle from a silver throne he had caused to be placed 
on the rocky promontory of Mount ^Egialus. But 
neither the numbers nor the courage of the Persians 
availed against the desperation and military genius 
of the Greeks. His vast navy was broken ; hundreds 
of galleys were sunk or captured, and the remainder 
which escaped, only escaped to encounter further 
disasters. 

Well might Byron sing : 

" A king sat on the rocky brow 

Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis ; 
And men by nations lay below, 

And ships by thousands — all were his. 
He counted them at break of day, 
And when the sun set where were they ! " 



XERXES. 12 1 

The battle of Salamis occurred 430 years B.C., or 
two thousand three hundred and sixteen years ago ; 
and Persia still exists as an independent nation, even 
though shorn of some of her vast dominions. Great 
empires have risen and fallen since the day of 
Salamis, and yet Persia lives. If she was unable to 
conquer Greece, she had yet in her people a vitality 
and an intellectual force that could only belong to 
a race of a very high order. The fact is, that the 
Persians of that day, as in our times, were compar- 
atively few in number; but they had great organiz- 
ing and executive ability, and were able to make 
others contribute to the success of their arms. The 
Persians furnished the brains which built up and 
have maintained their empire to the present century. 
A power of inferior quality would have fallen to 
pieces after the failure of an expedition which de- 
manded such stupendous efforts. 

Xerxes showed less courage in defeat than one 
would expect from a man of such ambition. He 
turned his face towards Persia, and finding the 
bridge of boats he had built over the Hellespont 
shattered by the waves, he crossed in a ship. But 
before leaving Greece so ingloriously,' he granted 
the prayer of Mardonius, who petitioned that he 
might be permitted to continue the war on Greek 
soil. The remainder of the army accompanied 
Xerxes to Persia. Mardonius was a hero, and by 
his courage deserved a better fate than destiny 
awarded him. He knew not what we now see, that 
he was righting in a hopeless cause, as it had been 
ordained that Europe should never belong to the 
races of Asia. 



122 THE STORY OE PERSIA. 

After considerable manoeuvring, the opposing 
forces met on the plains of Plataea. Greece has 
never before nor since, on any one field, mustered 
such an army as she drew up at Platsea. It num- 
bered 1 10,000 men. The place of honor, on the left, 
was awarded to the Athenians. The Persian army 
amounted to 300,000, according to the statements 
of Herodotus. For several days the two armies 
faced each other, anxiously consulting the auguries, 
which from day to day proved unpropitious. 

The inevitable conflict was finally precipitated, it 
is said, by Mardonius, in spite of the auguries of the 
soothsayers. It is more likely that the demand for 
water and supplies to sustain his large army forced 
him either to fight or retreat ; in the former there 
was hope, but in the latter, ruin for the Persian host, 
and therefore Mardonius chose the former course. 

Once more fortune came to the aid of Greece. 
The battle was long and obstinate. The Persians 
fought with courage equal to that of the foe. But 
they were out-generalled. It should be recorded, 
however, that the plans of Mardonius were betrayed 
by his ally, the king of the Macedonians, the night 
before the battle, which gave the Greeks a very great 
advantage. Mardonius was slain, and the greater part 
of his vast army fell on the field. We cannot, how- 
ever, accept the statement of the Greek historians 
that only a few hundred of the Greeks were killed in 
this tremendous conflict. To believe this is to as- 
sume that the Persians were cowards and offered no 
resistance, whereas those historians themselves con- 
cede to them at least the merit of heroic valor. 



124 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

On the same day the Persians were defeated at 
Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor, by a Greek 
fleet, and soon after, by the loss of Abydos, Persia 
was stripped of all the possessions which had been 
won in Europe by Darius. Well might the Greek 
dramatist, in the stirring strophes of his great trage- 
dy,* which was inspired by these events, make Atossa 
and her attendants wail in these wild words of woe 
over the vast calamities which befell the best blood 
of Persia when Xerxes invaded Greece : 

" Wo to the towns through Asia's peopled realms ! 
Wo to the land of Persia, once the post 
Of boundless wealth, how is thy glorious state 
Vanished at once, and all thy spreading honors 
Fall'n, lost ! Ah me ! unhappy is his task 
That bears unhappy tidings ; but constraint 
Compels me to relate this tale of wo. 
Persians, the whole barbaric host is fall'n. 

" O horror, horror ! What a baleful train 
Of recent ills ! Ah, Persians, as he speaks 
Of ruin, let your tears stream to the earth. 

" It is even so, all ruin ; and myself 
Beheld the ruin which my tongue would utter. 

" Wo, wo is me ! Then has the iron storm, 
That darkened from the realms of Asia, poured 
In vain its arrowy shower on sacred Greece. 

" In heaps the unhappy dead lie on the strand 
Of Salamis, and all the neighboring shores. 

' ' Unhappy friends, sunk, perished in the sea ; 
Their bodies', mid the wreck of shattered ships, 
Mangled and rotting on th' encumbered waves ! 

******* 

" Raise the funereal cry, with dismal notes 
Wailing the wretched Persians. Oh, how ill 
They planned their measures, all their army perished ! 

* " The Persians," by .^Eschylus. 



XERXES. 125 

" O Salamis, how hateful is thy name ! 
And groans burst from me when I think of Athens. 

" How dreadful to her foes ! Call to remembrance 
How many Persian dames, wedded in vain, 
Hath Athens of their noble husbands- widowed ? 

" Griefs like these exceed 
The power of speech or question ; yet even such. 
Inflicted by the gods, must mortal man, 
Constrained by hard necessity, endure." 

Xerxes does not appear to have entered into any 
other important enterprises after his return to Persia, 
where he reigned for some time after that event, 
although hostilities between Persia and Greece did 
not actually cease for some time. It maybe inferred 
that he aroused indignation and unpopularity in cer- 
tain quarters, for he was assassinated in the twentieth 
year of his reign by Artabanus, the captain of the 
royal body-guard. 



^^^^ll^f^^ 3 




X. 

PERSIA UNTIL THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 

XERXES left two sons, Darius and Artaxerxes. 
The former, as the eldest, was the natural heir ; but 
Artaxerxes formed a conspiracy with the murderer 
of his father, Artabanus, and in turn caused Darius 
to be slain, and usurped the throne. It was a natural 
sequel to this series of atrocities, that when Arta- 
xerxes felt himself firmly established in power he 
should order Artabanus, the author of these crimes, 
to suffer the death he had so richly merited. 

Artaxerxes was surnamed Longimanus, or the 
Long-handed, for what reason does not distinctly 
appear. At the very outset of his reign he had to 
encounter a formidable uprising in Egypt, which 
during so many years had been subjected to the Per- 
sian rule. The rebellion was led by Inarus, son of 
Psammeticus. The Egyptians called the Athenians 
to their aid, who sent them a fleet of two hundred sail. 
In the end, however, the Persians, conducted by 
Megabyzus, were successful in once more reducing 
Egypt to subjection, and the Athenians were obliged 
to retire with little glory and considerable loss. One 
result of this event was the final settlement of a peace 
between Persia and Greece, which seems to have 

126 



PERSIA UNTIL THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 12J 

been advantageous to the former country. For while 
Persia agreed to allow her rival to enjoy unmolested 
sway and navigation in the Western Mediterranean, 
Greece, on the other hand, consented to allow Persia 
to retain undisputed possession of all the territories 
she had conquered on the eastern shores of the 
Mediterranean from the Hellespont to Egypt, al- 
though in many parts the population was composed 
chiefly of Greeks. 

After the Egyptian revolt Artaxerxes was dis- 
turbed by the rebellion of Megabyzus himself, who 
had quelled the insurrection. Megabyzus aspired to 
nothing less than the throne of Persia. He suc- 
ceeded in maintaining an- independent position in 
Syria for several years, aided very likely by the 
Jews ; for it seems probable that it was at this time, 
about the year 445 B.C., that the destruction of 
Jerusalem occurred, which is bewailed by the proph- 
et Nehemiah. It is a fact remarkable in Oriental 
history, that Megabyzus received a full pardon and 
was permitted to return to the court of Artaxerxes, 
where he continued to reside unmolested. Although 
probably due in part to the influence of Amestris, 
wife of the king and mother-in-law of Megabyzus, 
yet such clemency on the part of an Eastern mon- 
arch towards a subject who had sought to dethrone 
him, was an event so extraordinary as to require 
especial comment. 

Artaxerxes the Long-handed died in 424 B.C., after 
a reign of forty years. He appears to have been of a 
mild if not weak disposition, humane, and unambi- 
tious. Like his father, Xerxes, he was of tall and 



128 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

commanding presence, and in his love for the chase 
resembled many of his line. 

Xerxes II., who succeeded to the throne was mur- 
dered within a month and a half by his brother, 
Sogdianus, who in turn was defeated and slain by 
Ochus, another son of Artaxerxes, who took the 
name of Darius II., with the surname of Nothus. 
The person who possessed the most influence during 
this reign was Parysatis, the sister and wife of 
Darius. If not distinctly authorized by the religious 
laws of Zoroaster, the practice of marriage between 
brothers and sisters was not considered a crime in 
Persia in those days, and was often followed by the 
sovereigns of that country. Parysatis was a woman 
of strong will, fierce passions, and unprincipled 
character ; her hold over the mind of Darius was 
imperious, and many of the dark intrigues and acts 
of blood which stain the pages of Persian history 
must be charged to this beautiful but wicked woman. 
The power which such women as Parysatis have 
frequently obtained in the East is a sufficient proof 
that the system of seclusion to which Oriental 
women have been subjected in all ages does not 
appear to have much effect in reducing the influence 
of their charms. 

The reign of Darius Nothus is distinguished by the 
loss of Egypt, which for one hundred and fifteen years 
had been one of the most brilliant ornaments of the 
Persian crown. The Egyptians were too intelligent 
and active a people to allow themselves to be per- 
manently absorbed into another government, while 
as a people who were profoundly religious, they 



PERSIA UNTIL THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 1 29 

could never forget nor forgive the frequent affronts 
offered to their gods by the haughty satraps set 
over them by the Persian monarchs. 'Amyrtaeus, a 
descendent of the royal line of Egypt, assumed the 
reigns of government and succeeded in expelling the 
Persians from the banks of the Nile. 

The degeneracy into which the Persian monarchy 
was rapidly falling during the reigns of the success- 
ors of Darius became clearly apparent during the 
reign of Darius Nothus ; and also the cupidity of 
the Greeks, a trait which has unfortunately been too 
prominent a blemish of the Greek character in all 
ages. Even the Spartans, whose strict discipline and 
laws had made Spartan simplicity proverbial, now 
showed that their boasted virtue was not proof against 
Persian gold. Not only were the Greeks willing to 
sell their services as mercenaries, but many of their 
chief men, such as Pausanias and Themistocles, and 
Lysander and Alcibiades, engaged in dark intrigues 
with the Persian satraps, and more especially that 
craftiest of the crafty, Tissaphernes, satrap of Sardis. 

The aim of these intrigues was generally to give 
advantages to each in the attainment of power, the 
Persians being able to furnish unlimited supplies of 
money, and the Greeks soldiers, whose valor and dis- 
cipline were superior to that of the Persian troops 
which these satraps, when intending to revolt, had 
to encounter. The Greek leaders who engaged in 
these mischievous plots also sought to win for them- 
selves in turn supreme power in Greece at the ex- 
pense of the liberties of their countrymen. So far 
as the Greeks were concerned, all the leaders engaged 



I30 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

in these ambitious schemes came to a disgraceful 
end one after another, and such also was the case 
with the Persian conspirators in due time ; but un- 
fortunately not until they had done infinite evil to 
their respective countries. 

One of the most important events in the world's his- 
tory, the invasion of Persia by Alexander the Great, 
resulted indirectly from these secret and unscrupu- 
lous negotiations, as will be apparent in the sequel. 

Darius II. was succeeded by his oldest son, who 
took the name of Artaxerxes II. He had a brother 
named Cyrus the younger. Parysatis was the mother 
of both. The brothers, although very different in 
character, were equally under the influence of this 
powerful woman, but Cyrus, in ambition and will, 
appears most to have resembled their mother. On 
learning of the approaching death of their father, 
Cyrus left his satrapy and came to the capital 
attended by a military escort which included three 
hundred Greek mercenaries. It was his intention to 
seize the throne. But he arrived too late, for 
Darius II. had already expired, and Artaxerxes Mem- 
non was master of the crown. Cyrus, however, 
conscious of superior talents and popularity, still 
meditated treason, hoping by intrigue to dethrone 
his brother. 

At this juncture his designs were betrayed by a 
celebrated Persian grandee named Tissaphernes, 
whom he had befriended, and who professed to be 
zealously attached to his cause. But through the in- 
fluence of Parysatis Cyrus was pardoned and sent 
back to his province in Asia Minor. When one con- 




TOMB OF ESTHER AND MORDECAI, AT HAMADAN. 



131 



132 THE STORY OF PERSIA, 

siders that in later and, we might suppose, more 
enlightened ages, the sovereigns of Persia often exe- 
cuted or blinded all their male kinsmen before they 
had even attempted conspiracies, lest they might 
plot against the king, it must be admitted that the 
monarchs of the Achaemenian line were often re- 
markably lenient towards their brothers. 

But Cyrus the Younger was not content to have 
so narrowly escaped death. He was of an ardent 
temperament, and from what we can learn was not 
only a man of superior intelligence, but also pos- 
sessed of certain lofty qualities not too common 
among Persians of rank at that period, and certainly 
scarcely to be looked for in a son of such a woman 
as Parysatis, a woman who had married her own 
brother, who had, among many other crimes, pois- 
oned her own daughter-in-law Statira and induced 
her son Artaxerxes to marry his own daughter 
Atossa. That Cyrus was ambitious to the point of 
rising against his king and brother, is no more than 
could be expected from any Oriental prince con- 
scious of possessing especial genius for government. 

Cyrus showed his intelligence by purchasing the 
services of thirteen thousand Greek mercenaries, who 
were commanded by Clearchus. He well knew 
what they were capable of accomplishing in the des- 
perate enterprise toward which he was now turning 
all the energy of his restless soul. It is hardly likely 
■that he would have ventured on the attempt without 
the aid of these well-disciplined auxiliaries. Besides 
them he took with him over a hundred thousand 
Persian troops. 



PERSIA UNTIL THE IN VA SI ON OF A LEX A NDER. 1 3 3 

Cyrus had marched as far east as Cunaxa (about fifty 
miles from Babylon) before he received any certain 
information that his brother Artaxerxes intended to 
offer resistance. This is a curious illustration of the 
simple methods which characterized the movements 
of armies in those times. Xenophon, in his account 
of this expedition, in a few brief but vivid sentences, 
describes the sudden discovery of a vast army ap- 
proaching over the plains at early morning, amid 
clouds of dust in which might be discerned the flash 
of helmets and spears. 

The army of the king far overlapped the lines of 
the prince. But a vigorous attack of the insurgent 
army on one of the wings crushed it back on the 
centre, and would have resulted in a victory for 
Cyrus if Clearchus had moved his mercenaries with 
sufficient activity to support the prince, who fiercely 
cut his way through to the chariot which bore Arta- 
xerxes. When the king saw his brother approaching, 
he showed the greatest consternation, and Cyrus had 
actually wounded Artaxerxes when he was borne 
down by numbers coming to the rescue. Having in 
his haste entered the field only half-clad in armor, 
he was speedily despatched. Thus in a few moments 
an enterprise which had been in preparation foryears, 
and which might have altered the destinies of Persia, 
came to an untimely end. 

The shining qualities of Cyrus the Younger would 
alone have perpetuated the fame of him who fell at 
•Cunaxa. But, as if to give emphasis to these events, 
they are handed down to us by the pen of one of 
the greatest historians of ancient times, who was 



134 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

himself an important actor in the scenes he describes 
in such matchless style. We refer to Xenophon, an 
Athenian who was one of the officers of the Greek 
contingent which accompanied the expedition of 
Cyrus. 

After the fall of Cyrus, Clearchus called off his 
troops and collected them upon a slight eminence, to 
await an attack from the vast host of the king. But 
Tissaphernes, the royal general, had no idea of wasting 
his men by hurling them against a few thousand 
Greeks, who, though now reduced to little over ten 
thousand, were desperate and disciplined and pre- 
pared to sell their lives dearly. He preferred to re- 
sort to the Persian tactics of treachery and intrigue, 
well aware that so small a body of men, one thousand 
miles from home, surrounded by hungry mountains 
and desert plains in the heart of an enemy's country, 
must soon perish. 

Clearchus and his associate commanders should, 
as Greeks, have been sufficiently shrewd not to fall 
into the snares of treachery. Yet this is exactly 
what happened. Wily as a fox, Tissaphernes lured 
them into his tent on the pretence of arranging 
terms by which they should be permitted to return 
unmolested to Greece. They were never seen 
again alive. But when the Greek troops learned 
from the heralds sent to them by Tissaphernes that 
through the loss of their generals they were in a 
most desperate position, instead of surrendering to 
Tissaphernes in compliance with his demands, they 
at once proceeded to elect generals to conduct them 
on their homeward march. Among those selected 



PERSIA UNTIL THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 1 35 

for this forlorn hope was Xenophon, whose abilities 
soon made him virtually sole commander. 

The route selected by Xenophon for the famous 
retreat of the Ten Thousand lay in a northerly di- 
rection. Although it led over steep mountains and 
among fierce and barbarous tribes, yet, after getting 
into the mountain regions, the Greeks would be less 
troubled by the Persian troops and would be able to 
embark at a Greek port on reaching the Euxine. 

The difficulties encountered on this long and har- 
assing march could hardly be exaggerated. Only 
the skill of Xenophon and the heroic endurance of 
his troops availed to escape the wiles of the Persians 
and the perpetual attacks of the Carduchi, who in 
our time are called Kurds. After six months of 
fighting and travel the Greeks at last beheld the 
blue sea, those in advance announcing it by loud 
cries of " The sea, the sea ! " It was at Trapezus, 
now called Trebizond, that Xenophon found ships 
which transported his army to Greece. 

One result, and that a very important one, of this 
famous passage of so small a body of Greeks across 
the Persian empire, was to show the low con- 
dition to which that empire had fallen through 
the inefficiency of its later rulers. The authority of 
the king hung loosely on many of the provinces. 
The inefficiency of the government had been com- 
municated to the army, which was therefore far less 
able to resist invasion than when Cyrus and Darius 
held the reins of empire with a firm hand. It was a 
knowledge of these facts which in time led Philip of 
Macedon to make preparations to invade the Persian 



136 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

empire ; but he was assassinated before he could 
undertake this enterprise, which was then carried to 
a successful issue by Alexander the Great. 

Artaxerxes Memnon had many other revolts to 
occupy his attention besides that of his brother 
Cyrus. The satraps Mausolus and Datames appear 
to have given him the most trouble, although by the 
energy of Ariobarzanes and other skilful generals, 
these insurrections were generally put down, yet 
they indicated that the great empire founded by 
Cyrus must soon crumble from the weakness of its 
monarchs and the corruption of its governors and 
subordinate officers, unless a strong brain and arm 
should arise to revive its decaying vitality. Such 
a man appeared on the death of Artaxerxes after a 
mild but ruinous reign of forty-six years. 

Artaxerxes II. was succeeded by his son Ochus, 
who took the name of Artaxerxes III. He proved 
to be a man quite the opposite in character to-his 
father, possessed of unusual energy and great deter- 
mination. He found the Persian empire ready to 
fall asunder ; on all hands the satraps were in revolt, 
and the various races which had been held subject 
by the superior intellect of the Iranian race were 
preparing to proclaim their independence. The 
Athenians, ever ready to war against their heredi- 
tary enemies, the Persians, whom they haughtily 
styled barbarians, extended aid to Artabazus, sa- 
trap of Phrygia. But the threats of Artaxerxes to 
carry hostilities into Greece brought them to their 
senses, and Theban mercenaries at the same time 
came to the assistance of the Persian monarch. 




E= co 



138 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Artabazus was forced to fly for refuge to Macedonia, 
which appears to have. been at that time an asylum 
for the enemies of Persia. 

About the year 353 B.C., Artaxerxes III. gave 
further evidence of the vigor of his character by 
actually planning another invasion of Greece, and 
the great Athenian orator and statesman, Demos- 
thenes, warned his countrymen to act with caution 
in order that they might not afford Artaxerxes a 
desired pretext for once more inundating the soil 
of Greece with the hordes of Central Asia. 

Artaxerxes was, however, diverted from under- 
taking this invasion by renewed hostilities with 
Egypt, and by the revolt of Cyprus, Judaea, and 
Phoenicia. After a period of complete indepen- 
dence, Egypt was again reduced to be a vassal of 
Persia. Artaxerxes overran the country and sub- 
jected the gods of Egypt to insults equal to those of 
Cambyses. Mentor, the victorious general who con- 
ducted the Egyptian campaign, received the highest 
tokens of his sovereign's appreciation. It was the 
turn of Cyprus next, and she too learned to her cost 
that a man of genius was again wielding the sceptre 
of Persia. 

Artaxerxes Ochus himself conducted the war 
against Judaea and Phoenicia, and laid siege to Sidon. 
This is one of the most remarkable sieges in history. 
It lasted for many months, and no less than 400,000 
people perished when Sidon was stormed and burned, 
B.C. 351. . 

The extraordinary ability of Artaxerxes now led 
him to act in the affairs of Greece in a manner quite 



PERSIA UNTIL THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER. 1 39 

the reverse of that followed by his predecessors. 
Philip of Macedon was threatening the liberties of 
the numerous small but active republics of Greece. 
.His great ability and ambition had awakened the 
keenest alarm. In this crisis the Athenians turned 
for aid to the country which had so often threat- 
ened their very existence, and formed an alliance 
with Artaxerxes III. There seems good reason to 
believe that a man of his shrewd intellect perceived 
the danger to Persia, if all Greece should be at the 
beck of a commanding will like that of Philip of 
Macedon. At any rate, Artaxerxes furnished money 
and troops to the Greeks, and probably intended to 
proceed in person with a large army to Greece. But 
before he could accomplish that design Philip suc- 
ceeded in defeating the united forces of Greece at 
Chaeronaea, 338 B.C., a conflict, which, in view of its 
vast results, may be considered one of the decisive 
battles of the world. 

It was at this critical time that Artaxerxes III. was 
murdered by the eunuch Bagoas. It requires but a 
little reflection to judge how much apparently de- 
pended upon the continued reign of such a man as 
Artaxerxes. A soldier and statesman of his stamp 
might have prevented Alexander from entering on 
his expedition against Persia, or at least greatly 
hindered the career of conquest which enabled 
Alexander to change the map of the world for ages. 

Bagoas placed Arses the youngest son of Arta- 
xerxes on the throne ; but when Arses was planning 
to punish the eunuch for the death of his father, 
Bagoas caused the young king and his entire family 



140 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



to be slain, and elevated in his place Darius Codoma- 
nus, called Darius III., who was a great-grandson of 
Darius II. Bagoas now suffered his deserts; he had 
played the part of king-maker with rare success, 
having put two kings out of the way, and placed 
two on the throne. But it was a dangerous pre- 
cedent to allow so powerful a subject to live, and 
Darius ordered him to execution. Bagoas affords 
an example of the great influence and power which 
have often been acquired in past ages by men of the 
unfortunate class to which he belonged. 








®$FM 


^9 




;g§ '^'''x^gglp^ 




gS^lPi 




; ":„/;^ 




pi 


wfMm 




liffSI 

Mm 




^^ '" 


vfSfi^? 


ISJB 


■ 


,5^70 i> 


jiit^Pr — 


0i 



XI. 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 

PERSIA had arisen, as it were, from her ashes. 
The genius of Artaxerxes Ochus had renewed her 
splendor and power, and given the empire a new 
lease of life, which would have insured its continu- 
ance for ages if he had been succeeded, as was Cyrus 
the Great, by rulers of similar talents. But destiny 
had willed otherwise, and when Persia had to meet 
in the field one of the greatest generals in history, 
her fate was confided by Providence to one of the 
most incompetent sovereigns who ever sat on a 
throne. Darius Codomanus may not have commit- 
ted as many crimes as some of his predecessors, but 
neither was he impelled by their energy and genius. 
He had the spirit of a coward, and a weakness 
amounting nearly to imbecility. The successes of 
Alexander the Great lose in merit, when one con- 
siders what an unworthy foe he was to encounter 
when he passed his army across the Hellespont to 
conquer Asia in the spring of 334 B.C. 

At the river Granicus Alexander, not without diffi- 
culty, utterly routed a Persian army which far out- 
numbered his own. Alexander after this event 
pushed his advance southward along the western 

141 



I4 2 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

coast of Asia Minor, where the large number of 
Greeks made conquest easy. Sardis might have 
offered a long resistance ; but the Persian general 
in command, with a pusillanimity at that day un- 
common among Persians, surrendered without a 
blow, and with his garrison went over to Alexander. 

While the Macedonians were manoeuvring- in this 
direction, Memnon, the ablest of the captains of 
Darius, was busy planning movements which might 
have effectually checked the advance of the invaders. 
With the Persian fleets Memnon swept the ^Egean, 
taking isle after isle ; at the same time he was mass- 
ing a large force which was intended to be trans- 
ported to Greece, and combining there with an 
allied army of the Greek republics to invade Mace- 
donia. If this movement had been carried out 
Alexander would doubtless have been obliged to 
return in all haste to defend his native dominions. 
But once more destiny came to the aid of him whom 
she had chosen to execute her designs. Memnon 
died in the midst of his plans. With him died the 
last hope of saving Persia from the redoubtable pha- 
lanx of Macedonia. 

At Issus Darius again attempted to resist the 
victorious march of the Macedonian legions, but 
with the usual result. He made a poor selection of 
a field suited for the manoeuvring of a large army, 
and Alexander was able to beat the Persians in 
detail. He then proceeded to reduce Phoenicia, in 
order to rob Persia of the last ports in which she 
could concentrate her fleets. Tyre, garrisoned by 
Persians, resisted Alexander seven months, and bit- 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 143 
rue the obstinate resistance she 



she 



terly did 
offered. 

In the year 



j j 



I the Macedonian hero finally 



turned directly towards Persia itself — the heart of 
the great empire he was attempting to overthrow. 
Once more Darius had gathered a vast host to make 




DARIUS AT ISSUS. — FROM MURAL PAINTING AT POMPEII. 

a last stand. On the plains of Arbela or Gaugamela 
Alexander's magnificent generalship dispersed an 
army which, if rightly led, might have swept his own 
little army of veterans out of existence. In later 
ages we have examples of how bravely the Persians 
could fight when in smaller numbers, but more ably 
commanded, even against such soldiers as the veter- 



144 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ans of Rome. It was not lack of valor, but ineffi- 
ciency and corruption on the part of her rulers 
which cost Persia her independence when invaded 
by the Macedonians. If Persia should ever fall 
again into the power of a foreign invader, it will 
be due, in part at least, to similar causes. The Per- 
sian people are brave and intelligent, but, like all 
Asiatics, their destiny is in the hands of their rulers. 

Babylon and Susa and Persepolis and Pasargadse * 
fell into his hands successively, with scarcely any 
resistance, except what was heroically offered by 
the mountain tribes called Huxians, who may have 
been the same as the Loories and Bachtiarees of the 
present day. Vast wealth and treasure fell into the 
hands of the conquerors, the opulence which had 
been reaped for ages from many a province and 
kingdom, and had administered to the luxury of 
monarchs whose power was wellnigh limitless, and 
whose love of luxury had been as great as their 
power to gratify it. 

The entry of Alexander into Persepolis is rendered 
doubly memorable by the conflagration which fol- 
lowed soon after and reduced one of the most mag- 
nificent of the world's capitals to ashes. We may 
judge of what Persepolis must have been by the 
grandeur and beauty of the few ruins which yet re- 
main to remind us of the glory of Darius and of the 

* As I have intimated on a previous page, Persepolis is merely a 
Greek translation of a Persian word, and means the city of the Per- 
sians. I am strongly inclined to consider Persepolis and Pasargadse 
as one and the same place, Pars, Pers, and Fers all meaning Persia 
in the native tongue, and the final " x " being purely a Greek 
terminative ; or, one might have been a suburb of the other. 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 1 45 

ruthlessness of war when her torch is in the hand of 
one like Alexander. 

According to the usual accounts, the burning of 
Persepolis was the result of the fierce orgies to which 
the victors abandoned themselves in the hour of 
triumph. Flushed with wine quaffed out of the 
golden and jewelled goblets of Persian kings, Alex- 
ander listened to the wild songs of Thai's, a courtesan 
who had accompanied him from Greece. She bade 
him immortalize his name by applying the torch to 
the palaces of Persia. Their flames would emblazon 
his name with letters of fire on the scrolls of time. 
Dryden has recorded this incident in one of the 
finest odes in the English language, entitled "Alex- 
ander's Feast." But in his famous lyric the poet 
takes what is probably the rational view of this 
great calamity, which it certainly was to the history 
of architecture. Dryden represents the king of 
Macedon fired at a banquet in the halls of Per- 
sepolis by the strophes of Timotheus, the bard, who 
recited the wrongs which Greece had suffered at the 
hands of Persia, and summoned them to take a ven- 
geance that should ring down all succeeding ages. 

" Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, 
See the Furies arise ; 
See the snakes that they rear, 
How they hiss in their hair, 
And the sparkles that flash from their eyes ! 
Behold a ghastly band, 
Each a torch in his hand ! 
. . Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain, 
And unburied remain 
Inglorious on the plain : 



I46 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Give the vengeance due 
To the gallant crew. 
Behold how they toss their torches on high, 

How they point to the Persian abodes, 
And glittering temples of their hostile gods. 
The princes applaud with a furious joy, 
And the king seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy ; 
Thai's led the way, 
To light him to his prey, 
And, like another Helen, fired another Troy." 

The burning of Persepolis was a mistake, whether 
done in a moment of wild frenzy, or as an act of 
profound policy. He who wars against the arts, 
wars not against nations, but against mankind. 

After the defeat at Arbela, Darius Codomanus, 
still accompanied by a large army, including the 
contingent of Greek mercenaries who remained by 
him to the last, fled to the northeast. Another 
monarch or general, with the least spirit and with 
such forces operating in his own country, might 
easily have continued to offer such resistance to 
Alexander and his moderate-sized army that might 
have at last brought them to ruin. But Darius was of 
the stuff of which they are made who throw away 
what their fathers have accumulated. The founders 
and the losers of great empires are cast in different 
moulds. In Bactria, Darius at last met his fate ; he 
was assassinated by Bessus, a satrap of that province, 
and the dynasty of the Achaemenidae established by 
Cyrus the First came to an end. 

Although Alexander had conquered this vast em- 
pire in what seemed a very easy manner, yet his 
difficulties were not yet over. His little army, which 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 147 

probably never numbered at any one time over fifty 
thousand men, was in the heart of a hostile country. 
Of course it had met with many losses, which had to 
be constantly repaired by recruits brought from 
home. But Greece, including Macedonia, was a 
small country with a meagre population ; garrisons 
had to be placed in many of the captured cities, and 
sooner or later the supply of Greeks for his army 
would be exhausted. The situation was one requir- 
ing no less ability to overcome than the invasion 
which had just been accomplished. It is one thing 
to invade and conquer a hostile country; it is 
quite another affair to reduce it to permanent sub- 
mission. The problem was made the more difficult 
because Alexander proposed to continue his con- 
quests towards India and Central Asia, and it was 
of the last importance to have the country in his 
rear tranquil and submissive. 

In this emergency, Alexander adopted two meas- 
ures, the only ones, perhaps, that were available. 
The first was to fill vacancies in his regiments with 
Persian troops, who, under good command could be 
depended on to fight well, provided their fidelity 
could be as sure as their valor. The other meas- 
ure was for the Macedonians to intermarry with 
Persian women in the hope that such alliances 
would have the double effect of reconciling the con- 
quered to the rule of the invader, and of making the 
Greeks willing to forget the homes they had left be- 
hind them beyond the blue JEgean. Alexander 
set the example by marrying Roxana, the daughter 
of a Bactrian prince, but afterwards, to still further 



I48 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

orientalize himself and secure the affection of the 
Persians, accepted the system of polygamy, contrary 
to Greek usages, and took to wife Statira, daughter 
of Darius and Parysatis, the daughter of Artaxerxes 
Ochus. Ten thousand of the Macedonian soldiers, 
besides nearly a hundred of the higher officers also, 
married Persian women. Alexander, after this, went 
a step further, and actually organized a separate 
corps, composed entirely of Persians, armed and 
disciplined like the Greeks, to the number of 30,000. 
After arranging these affairs in Iran itself, the 
hero of Macedon started to reduce the north and 
eastern provinces of Persia, where Bessus, the slayer 
of Darius, of blood-royal himself, had set up his 
authority and undertook to assert himself as king of 
Persia. In his progress, Alexander is said by the 
Persian legends to have come to a famous plane-tree 
which grew near Damghan. This tree was in two 
parts, or trunks — the one male, the other female. 
The former spoke by day, and the other by night, 
uttering oracular sayings. Alexander took counsel 
with these mystic plane-trees, which, like so 
many of their species in Persia, stand in lonely 
spots overlooking vast and arid table-lands. The 
trees gave forth a boding voice to him as they 
whispered that he was to die while yet in his prime, 
and others should reap the fruits of his victories. 
The prediction of the plane-trees does not appear 
to have in the least dampened the warrior's ardor 
for conquests. For he continued on his marvellous 
career until his cavalry watered their horses in the 
waters of the Indus. 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 149 

Alexander on his return from India fixed his 
capital at Babylon. There, in the short time that 
remained before his death caused by the excesses in 
which he indulged, he proceeded to organize the im- 
mense empire which now acknowledged his sway. 
The old satrapies or governments into which the em- 
pire had been divided were in general continued, and 
in many cases Persians were appointed to them, which 
tended to conciliate the people. The central and 
western provinces seem gradually to have accepted 
the situation in good faith. But the eastern and 
northern provinces, such as Sogdiana, Bactria, and 
India, were ever rebellious and gave Alexander 
much trouble. When one considers of what inco- 
herent materials the vast empire of Persia was com- 
posed, one is surprised that it held together at all 
after his death ; for the Macedonian rule introduced 
yet another element of discord. 

The reader will remember that Philip of Macedon 
had subjugated the Greek republics and brought 
them under the rule of Macedon. The Macedonians 
were allied by race with other Greeks, and yet, on 
account of their intermixture with other races, to- 
gether with their inferior civilization, the Mace- 
donians had always been regarded by the Greeks, 
and especially the Athenians and Spartans, as aliens. 
The Greek republics had not been beaten by reason 
of military inferiority, but because they were rent 
by dissensions and the jealousies and small political 
intrigues seemingly inseparable from republics, as 
well as the fact that Philip of Macedon was a man 
of unusual genius, who to this added the power of 
buying up some of the leading men of Greece. 



I50 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

When Alexander the Great entered upon his 
Persian campaign his army was composed not only 
of Macedonians ; it was reinforced as well by recruits 
from all parts of Greece. Macedonians and Greeks 
fought side by side in his battles, and this mutual 
rivalry perhaps aided to stimulate their courage. 

But when Alexander came to found cities and colo- 
nize them with Greeks who had no especial sympa- 
thy with his cause, or placed entire provinces under 
their control, then the smouldering fires of jealousy, 
and the hate against the Macedonians found expres- 
sion. After his death this feeling burst forth in various 
quarters, and was one of the causes which in the end 
brought about the ruin of Macedonian and Greek 
rule in Asia. Alexander founded more than seventy 
cities in which he implanted Greek and Macedonian 
colonies. By this military network he proposed 
that he and his successors should hold in unbroken 
form the empire which had reached its utmost limits 
under Darius I. 

But when, in the year 323 B.C., the news flew 
from India to the Nile that Alexander, he who had 
proclaimed descent from the gods, was dead, then 
dissension broke forth in every quarter. For over 
forty years the unhappy people of this vast region 
were rent with discord, and the sod was drenched 
with blood. The generals of Alexander fought for 
the throne. Perdiccas, who as regent at Babylon 
during the minority of Alexander's son, naturally 
claimed the regency, if not the sovereignty, of the 
whole empire, was soon assassinated, and his power 
was claimed by Pitho, satrap of Media; but he was 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 1 5 I 

displaced by a conspiracy of the other satraps, who 
united in electing Eumenes to occupy the throne 
of Alexander, at Susa, in 316. But Eumenes was 
betrayed into the hands of Antigonus, another 
great Macedonian general. Antigonus in turn was 
obliged to yield to Seleucus, one of the Alexandrian 
generals, who took possession of Babylon and may 
be said to have founded, about the year 312 B.C., the 
great dynasty of the Seleucidse. During these fierce 
civil wars Persis or Iran, the real seat of the Persian 
empire, seems to have suffered but little, being as it 
were in an eddy at one side, while the tide of war 
surged wildly over Media, Babylonia, and Parthia. 

Seleucus Nicator founded the city of Seleucia on 
the Tigris, which he made the capital of the Persian 
or rather the Greco-Persian empire. Those who 
look at the condition of the East Indies in this 
century, where a population of two hundred and 
forty millions is governed by scarcely one hundred 
and fifty thousand Englishmen, may form an idea of 
the condition of Persia and its provinces under the 
reign of Seleucus Nicator and his successors. The 
Macedonians with their Greek troops were probably 
at first less numerous even than the English in 
India, and quite as different in habits and character 
from the subject races. 

But the Macedonian rulers had two elements to 
contend with, which greatly complicated the difficul- 
ties of their position, and was one of the causes 
which in the end brought about the fall of their do- 
minion in Asia. One of these was the dissension 
which grew up between the cavalry and the infantry 



I5 2 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

of the Macedonian forces. The former had in some 
way united in considering that the first object for 
them to accomplish was to preserve the empire in 
the form which Alexander had left it, and to place 
that object before the question of Macedonian 
supremacy ; if necessary, they were even willing to 
sacrifice the authority of Macedonia, if expedient to 
do so in order to keep the Persian empire intact. 
But the infantry considered that at all hazards the 
strong arm of Macedonian power should rule in 
Asia over both Greeks and Persians, and that rather 
than yield that point the empire might be allowed to 
fall to pieces. It was a " rule or ruin " policy. 

The other element of discord, which grew in part 
out of the former, was the distinction which the 
Macedonians proposed to preserve between them- 
selves and the citizens of the subject republics of 
Greece who had aided them in the conquest of 
Persia. One way in which this was shown was by 
the appointment of Macedonian governors and gen- 
erals over the satrapies and over the garrisons which 
manned the one hundred and fifty cities founded by 
Alexander and Seleucus Nicator. 

The Greeks resented such treatment, and after 
Alexander's death the dissatisfaction found vent in 
open rebellion and many a bloody conflict. One of 
the most terrible of these tragedies occurred when 
the Greeks in Northeastern Persia heard of the death 
of Alexander. What cared they to remain away 
from their homes now that the soldier was dead who 
had forced them to march over the wilds and wastes 
of Asia to crown with laurels the son of him who 




ALEXANDER VISITING THE FAMILY OF DARIUS AFTER THE BATTLE OF ARBELA. 



153 



154 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

had robbed them of their liberty ? An army of 
Greeks to the number of twenty-three thousand 
undertook to. fight their way back to Greece. It is 
probable that they would have accomplished their 
purpose but for the treachery of one of their gen- 
erals, who sold them to Pitho, the Macedonian sa- 
trap of Media. Having thus got them in his power, 
Pitho agreed to allow them to risk the chances of the 
journey home if they would lay down their arms. 
But the Macedonians under his command were 
furious at the action of their general, and after the- 
Greeks had in good faith surrendered they fell upon 
the poor wretches and slaughtered them to a man. 
It is easy to see that such an atrocious calamity only 
tended to increase the hate which had been only half 
subdued while the iron hand of Alexander held this 
incongruous army together. 

The Greek colonists in Bactria, the extreme north- 
east satrapy of Persia, also revolted and were put 
down with difficulty by Seleucus Nicator. But the 
disaffection continued, and in the reign of Antiochus 
II., Diodatus, satrap of Bactria, arose against the 
authority of the Seleucidae, about the year 240 B.C., 
and founded a separate Greek state in the heart of 
Central Asia. The kingdom of Bactria presents one 
of the most singular episodes in history. A small 
colony of foreigners and aliens, many hundred miles 
from the sea, entirely isolated, and numbering prob- 
ably not over thirty-five thousand, not only main- 
tained their independence one hundred years in a 
strange land, but extended their conquests to the 
Ganges and included one thousand populous cities 
in their dominions. 



DARIUS CGDOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. I 55 

So entirely alone were the Greeks of Bactria, so 
completely were they separated from the mother- 
country beyond the seas, and so completely have all 
vestiges of their race and civilization disappeared, 
that it is only by roundabout ways we are able to 
trace the progress of the state which was founded by 
Diodatus. For a knowledge of the facts relating to 
the later years of its existence we are almost alto- 
gether dependent on the coins which are found from 
time to time in that region, and the records of Chinese 
historians. China was at that period beginning to 
extend her commerce and arms in a westerly direc- 
tion, and thus it is to that country that we are 
indebted for much of the little we know about the 
Greek colonies in Central Asia. 

Another curious fact connected with the history 
of Bactria, is the circumstance that the establish- 
ment of that kingdom as an independent power inci- 
dentally furnished the cause of its final extinction, 
for it led to the founding of the Parthian empire, 
which overthrew the power of Bactria. It came 
about in the following manner : When the Greeks 
settled in Bactria, they found it peopled by tribes of 
mountaineers and shepherds, who, like the modern 
Turkomans, added to these pursuits the love of ad- 
venture and the practice of brigandage. The rising 
of an independent government that ruled with intel- 
ligence and with a firm hand reduced the population 
to order, was little to the liking of the free-roving 
tribes of the Bactrian deserts. A tribe of these no- 
mads called the Parni, probably of the same Aryan 
stock as the Persians, not feeling strong enough to 
expel the Greeks from Bactria, decided to expatriate 



156 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

themselves and in new pastures to seek their lost 
freedom. Therefore they moved westward and set- 
tled in Parthia, a large satrapy of Persia, now repre- 
sented by the great province of Khorassan and the 
adjacent districts. The head chiefs of the Parni were 
two brothers, Arsaces and Tiridates by name. 

Parthia was held at that time for the Macedonians 
by the satrap Phericles. The small number of 
Greeks and Macedonians in the Persian empire may 
be inferred from the ease with which the Macedo- 
nian rule was abolished in Parthia by a small tribe 
of nomads who had but recently settled within its 
borders. Phericles evidently thought there was little 
to fear from these shepherds ; for he wantonly in- 
sulted Tiridates, the younger of the two chieftains. 
He must have been surprised indeed when he found 
that they dared to attack him in his stronghold. 
But this was not all ; for the revolt was so success- 
ful that Phericles was slain and the rule of Macedon 
ceased from Northern Persia forever. Arsaces as- 
sumed the throne 250 B.C. and founded the great 
Parthian monarchy, whose dynasty took from him 
the name of Arsacidae. Ever since the accession of 
Arsaces I., the Parnians have been called Parthians, 
although they were not in any sense entitled to 
that name. Is it not a curious example of the con- 
tradictions of destiny that a tribe which exiled itself 
from home in order to escape from the precise laws 
of a regulated government should within a very few 
years establish a similar government as a direct 
result of the action it had taken to escape from 
such rule ? 



DARIUS CODOMANUS AND ALEXANDER. 157 

The capital of the Arsacidae was, at least in the 
earlier reigns, at Rhages, now called Rhei, near 
Teheran, the modern capital of Persia. It is now in 
ruins which are yet sufficiently numerous and wide- 
spread to show that a very large city once stood on 
that spot. Some writers assume that the capital 
of Parthia was at the place now called Shahr-i- 
Veramin ; ruins still exist there, of which the 
oldest and most important is an immense low 
mound, square-shaped, with the remains of a para- 
pet that shows it to have been a fortress at some 
remote period, perhaps the citadel of a capital. It 
is quite possible that the Parthians first established 
themselves at that place, but finding it to be un- 
healthy, removed the seat of government to Rhages, 
which had already gained importance as a large 
city. 







,■.■.;■:., 


" 


pv'™/ 


"tov^jP? 


~ 




UPg 




Q 


PSfcll 




SB 


r¥f)? 


i . 


, 


|3 






SoR 




^2} 


Elfl^ 




^y^k 






1 


all 


...... r ji| 


fe&K£5Sw?KSS 


~)^^'&5b& 


■ 


IJfill§zf 



XII. 



THE PARTHIANS. 



The founding of the Parthian monarchy marks 
the opening of another great era in the story of 
Persia. We have thus far been following the history 
of that empire during three important periods, the 
legendary age, the period of the Achemenian dy- 
nasty, and that of Alexander and his successors. 
We now have before us the rise and fall of the Par- 
thians as rulers of the empire founded by Cyrus the 
Great, the historical successor of the legendary kings 
of Persia. 

While it is doubtless true that the successors of 
Alexander continued their authority over large por- 
tions of his empire for ages after the Parthians en- 
tered the field as rivals, and repeatedly defeated 
them, yet the fact remains that from the time Ar- 
saces I. was proclaimed king of Parthia, the Seleu- 
cidae began to lose ground in the distinctively 
Persian provinces of their dominions until they were 
entirely expelled by the Parthians. 

For some reasons it is not easy to see why the 
Parthian dynasty should not be considered and 
called Persian. The Parthians, if inferior in refine- 
ment and quickness of mind to the lively and bril- 

158 



THE PARTHIANS. I 59 

liant race which had sprung up in Persia, and given 
birth to Cyrus and Darius, was probably a branch 
of the same stock. It was originally a nomadic 
tribe similar to those which now roam in Persia with 
their flocks. In religion also the Parthians, like \/ 
the Persians, were at first devoted followers of the 
doctrines of the great Zoroaster. But historians 
have agreed to consider Persia as under subjection 
during the rule of the Parthians, because Persis or 
Iran, which gave birth to Cyrus and the men who 
helped him establish the Persian empire, was not the 
ruling province during the Parthian period. 

The Parthians also had customs which were so 
peculiar to themselves that they never intermingled 
much with the people of the subject provinces. The 
king had under him a few hundred nobles, who were 
free, except as to their allegiance to him. All the 
other Parthians were serfs, who were bound either to 
the domains of the sovereign or were distributed 
among the nobles, each of whom was practically a 
large slave-holder. When Parthia went to war the 
leading officers of the army were chosen from the 
body of grandees, and all under their command 
were slaves so submissive that they never seemed 
to have thought of rising and securing their freedom. 

The Parthians were great horsemen, and their 
armies were composed entirely of cavalry, complete- 
ly clad in chain armor and riding without saddles. 
Their method of fighting was remarkable. They 
charged furiously at the enemy, hurling javelins and 
arrows into their ranks, then wheeling suddenly ap- 
peared to fly in confusion, but shot arrows by turn- 



l6o THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ing as their steeds flew over the plain. If the enemy 
mistook this movement for flight and imprudently 
pursued them, they suddenly wheeled and threw 
them into terrible confusion, too often ending in 
defeat. 

Such were the people whom we now see looming 
up above the horizon of history. They left few 
records; indeed, we really know very little of the 
internal history of the Parthians, and would have 
known still less but for the frequent wars between 
them and the Greeks and Romans. It is to the 
historians of the latter that we are indebted for 
almost all reliable history until the Dark Ages. 
Oriental people have shown much quickness in the 
arts and in the composition of poetry, but in the 
statements of facts, such as history or science, they 
have always been far behind the races of Europe. 
The Oriental mind can hardly be considered inferior 
to that of Europe, but it belongs to quite another 
type. 

The Parthians also struck a great many coins, 
of which numbers are still found in Northern Per- 
sia ; these coins have been of great value to the 
historian who, thousands of years later, has tried to 
put together the disjointed history of the Parthian 
dynasty. 

Amid the faint and confused outlines which alone 
remain to record the career of the powerful Parthian 
race that for over four hundred years ruled in Persia 
with a rod of iron, and a force that over and over 
again hurled back the mailed and veteran legions of 
Rome shattered and dismayed, we are able to discern 



THE PARTHIANS. l6l 

two or three grand forms and several events that 
will live as long as the world lives. 

Of these heroes of Parthia the most important was 
Mithridates the Great, who not only repaired the 
losses the empire had sustained during several reigns 
in warfare with the Seleucidae, but carried the con- 
quests of Parthia as far as India in the east, and to 
the banks of the Euphrates in the west. And now 
for the first time the Parthians and Romans met, 
not in this case for Avar, but by means of embassa- 
dors, who arranged a treaty of peace between the 
two great powers of that age. 
Soon after this event Demetrius 
III., king of the Seleucid dy- 
nasty, was forced to surrender, 
with his entire army, to Mithri- 
dates, and ended his days in 
captivity. Armenia also fell un- 
der the Parthian rule during - the coin of mithridates i. 
reign of Mithridates. The coins of Mithridates are 
very numerous and clearly cut ; the design shows the 
portrait of that monarch, a man with a full beard 
and strongly marked but pleasing features. 

The immediate successors of the great Mithri- 
dates were men of entirely different stamp, and 
Tigranes, King of Armenia, was able therefore not 
only to revolt, but to rob Parthia of some of her 
western provinces. But in time Phraortes succeed- 
ed to the throne of the Arsacidae, and by calling 
for aid from the Romans caused the overthrow of 
Tigranes. But the haughty republic of the west 
granted its assistance to Phraortes with such ill- 




V 



1 62 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

concealed insults, that a hatred was aroused that 
could only be wiped out in blood. 

Phraortes was murdered by his two sons. Orodes 
as the Latins called him, but Huraodha, according 
to the Zend or Perso-Parthian tongue, mounted the 
throne ; but to avoid dissension it was agreed that 
his brother, Mithridates, should rule over Media as 
an independent king. It was not long before civil 
war broke out between the brothers, and in the end 
Mithridates was taken and executed before the very 
eyes of his brother Orodes. 

It was now the year 54 B.C. The civil wars in 
Rome had ceased for a while, and Crassus, who with 
Caesar and Pompey shared the authority in the re- 
public, assumed the charge of the Roman armies in 
Asia. Rome in that age always had one war (gener- 
ally two or three) on her hands, and was rapidly grow- 
ing wealthy and luxurious with the spoils of the 
nations that she was constantly leading in chains at 
her triumphal car. Crassus required but the merest 
pretext to invade and attack Parthia. The easy 
victories of Pompey in Armenia led him to imagine 
that he had but to reach the borders of that empire 
to have it fall helpless into his grasp. He was a 
brave man, and he led sixty thousand of the best 
troops in the world. But his contempt of the enemy 
and the greed of gold, for which he was notorious, 
caused him to fall into a terrible catastrophe. 

The chief general of Orodes was Surenas, the first 
nobleman of the empire and, as it appears, a man of 
great ability, who had rendered very valuable ser- 
vices in securing Orodes on the throne. It was on 



THE PARTHIANS. 1 63 

the 6th of June, just nineteen hundred and forty 
years ago, that the Romans and the Parthians of 
Persia first crossed their swords in battle, at Charrae, 
near the sources of the Euphrates. 

Surenas concealed the mass of his army behind 
the hills, allowing the Romans to see at first only 
the heavily armed cavalry. Little suspecting what 
was the actual force of the enemy, Publius Crassus, 
son of Crassus, charged them at the head of the 
Roman cavalry. The Parthians, following their 
usual tactics, broke and fled as if in dismay. When 
-they had drawn the Romans far enough from the 
main body, the entire army of Surenas deployed, 
and surrounding them, cut them to pieces. After 
this success, the Parthians hovered around the flanks 
of the Roman infantry, galling them with- spears and 
arrows, while themselves suffering only trifling loss. 

The heat, the thirst, the dust, completed the dis- 
comfiture of the Romans, who, when the sun set on 
the plains quivering with mirage, were powerless. 
But, according to their custom, the Parthians with- 
drew at the close of the day to renew the attack on 
the following morning. Under the shades of night 
the Romans fled, having suffered immense losses, 
and leaving their wounded on the field. But such 
was the rout and consternation of the remnants 
of the iron legions of Rome, that on the morrow 
Crassus was fain to accept the proposals made by 
Surenas. On descending into the plain to confer 
with the Parthian general, the Roman general soon 
perceived that his fate had come. On a slight 
pretext the conference came to blows, and Crassus 



164 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

was immediately despatched. His head was sent 
to Orodes, who caused the mouth to be stuffed with 
gold, saying mockingly : " Be satisfied now with thy 
life's desire ! " Of the great army that Crassus led 
into Asia not twenty thousand remained alive ; ten 
thousand of the survivors were captives, who were 
settled by Orodes in Margiana. 

Surenas, the hero of the greatest victory won over 
a Roman army since the immortal campaigns of Han- 
nibal, was ill rewarded for the remarkable services 
he had rendered his country. Orodes, in the true 
spirit of an Oriental despot, was unable to allow so 
powerful a subject to live, and Surenas paid for 
his victory with his life. But Orodes expiated his 
crimes in a horrible manner, for after a long reign, 
which carried Parthia to her highest pinnacle of 
power, he was strangled in his eightieth year by his 
son Phraates. Orodes first among the Parthian 
kings assumed the title of king of kings. 

Phraates removed the seat of government from 
the north of the empire to Taisefoon or, as the 
Greeks called it, Ctesiphon, a suburb of Seleucia, 
which continued after this to be the capital until 
the Mohammedan conquest, more than six hundred 
years later. Hatra, in that vicinity, also acquired 
importance under the Parthian kings, who caused 
a splendid palace to be erected there. Phraates 
was eminently successful in his military operations, 
although steeped in crime ; besides murdering his 
father, he had caused all his near relations to be 
sacrificed, in order to ensure his position on the 
throne. Phraates, however, was not destitute of 



THE PARTHIANS. 



165 



ability. The common saying that cruelty and cow- 
ardice go together is not always true, and certainly 
not in the case of Orientals. And it must be said 
that the peculiar form of government which has 
always existed in Asiatic states tends to make rulers 
wary, and often obliges them to act with quick de- 
cision and great apparent cruelty ; for Oriental kings 
live a lonely life, with few friends and surrounded by 




RUINS OF PALACE AT HATRA. 



many, often of their own household, conspiring for 
power. It was somewhat the same in Europe before 
the rising of the people from time to time forced 
kings to give up much of their authority and allow 
the people to have a voice in the government. 

Phraates soon had another Roman war on his 
hands. Before the death of Orodes, that monarch 
had associated with him his son Pacorus, a soldier 
and statesman, who conquered Syria and ruled both 



1 66 THE STORY OP PERSIA. 

there and in Palestine, with a mildness that con- 
trasted agreeably with the stern authority of the. 
Roman governors, whom he had expelled. But 
Pacorus was finally defeated and killed by the 
Roman consul, Ventidius, and the territories he had 
captured on the coast of the Mediterranean were lost 
to Parthia. 

The victory of Ventidius encouraged the celebra- 
ted Mark Antony to enter himself, in the year 33 
\. / B.C., on a campaign against the Parthians, whom the 
Romans could never forgive for the crushing defeat of 
Crassus, while as long as Parthia continued so power- 
ful, she presented an impregnable barrier against 
the advance of the Roman eagles into Central Asia. 
Antony made far greater preparations than Crassus; 
he was determined that this time Parthia should 
be humbled. His army numbered one hundred 
thousand men including no less than forty thou- 
sand cavalry, who were intended to cope with 
the invincible horsemen of Parthia. The army 
was also abundantly provided with baggage and 
siege trains. Antony himself was a general of 
unusual military qualifications ; he further strength- 
ened his position by deluding the Parthians into the 
idea that his intentions were peaceful, and it was not 
until the Roman host was near at hand, that 
Phraates became aware that Parthia was threatened 
by the most formidable invasion she had yet en- 
countered. 

To oppose this great peril, Phraates could only 
hastily collect forty thousand cavalry ; but he was 
equal to the emergency ; and immediately began 



THE PARTH1ANS. 



167 



operations by surprising the baggage trains of the 
enemy, and putting the attending escort of seven 
thousand five hundred men to the sword. Antony 
was at the time engaged in besieging Phraaspa. He 
was obliged to abandon the siege, but the pursuit of 
the Parthians was so vigorous that it was the great- 
est difficulty that the Roman general was able to 
reach the frontier of Armenia after a loss of thirty 
thousand of his best troops. This disaster proved 
decisive. For one hundred years after this, Rome 
dared not again attack Parthia; and when, in later 
ages, her legions repeated the 
attempts to penetrate to the 
heart of Persia, they always 
failed. Rome, in every other 
quarter successful, uniformly 
found that the frontiers of Per- 
sia formed an impervious barrier 
to the advance of her legions 
into Central Asia. It is not 
a little thing to record on the pages of history, 
that of all the people of antiquity, the only races 
that checked the advance of Rome were those which 
sprung on Persian soil. 

Phraates, subsequent to these events, was de- 
throned by a conspiracy of his brother Tiridates. 
He fled to Touran, or Scythia, of w r hich we hear so 
often in the legendary history of Persia. There he 
succeeded in raising an immense army of Tartars, 
and hurling the usurper from power, forced him to 
fly for an asylum to Rome, where he endeavored to 
induce the Romans to grant him assistance, promis- 




COIN OF ORODES. 



1 68 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ing important concessions in return for such aid. But 
they cautiously declined. Rome had no more hun- 
ger for war with the tremendous mounted squadrons 
of Parthia and the eagle-eyed generals who manoeu- 
vred the veterans of Crassus and Antony out of 
existence. 

Up to this time there had been one decided ad- 
vantage to Parthia in her wars with Rome ; she was 
forced by this formidable foe to keep up the vigor of 
her armies and preserve a degree of internal peace. 
The long period of tranquillity that now followed 
between the two empires proved most disastrous to 
the Asiatic state ; it gave abundant opportunity for 
discord and civil war ; king after king arose and fell ; 
the capital was filled with the blood of brothers killing 
brothers ; and the strength of a once powerful dynasty 
was hopelessly wasted. Amid this record of strife 
and confusion we perceive here and there a hero or a 
sovereign who, by exceptional virtues, relieved the 
monotony of these dreary events. Among them, 
one of the most notable was Vologeses I., who dis- 
tinguished himself by rare mildness and benevolence 
toward all the members of his family, and in the year 
63 A.D. conducted a war with Rome which, with 
varying success, left the final results in favor of 
Parthia. Later on the great Roman emperor, Ves- 
pasian and Vologeses I. cultivated a friendship as 
honorable as it was rare in those troublous times. 

Half a century later Trajan, the distinguished gen- 
eral and emperor of Rome, invaded the western 
territories of Parthia, and although that empire was 
now rapidly going to decay, he won no glory in the 



THE PARTH1ANS. I 69 

contest, and retired with the conviction that the true 
frontier of Rome in the East must ever be limited 
by the Euphrates River. Vologeses II. is memorable 
both for his death in 148 A.D., at the great age of 
ninety-six, and the fact that he had reigned for the 
almost unexampled period of seventy-one years. 

During the reign of Vologeses III. her western ter- 
ritories were invaded by Cassius, the Roman consul. 
Vologeses was defeated in a great battle, and Cassius 
penetrated as far as the province of Babylonia, of 
which the capital was Seleucia. This was a most flour- 
ishing city, teeming with commerce and riches and 
numbering a population of over four hundred thou- 
sand. Cassius wantonly gave up this city to fire and 
sword and wiped it out of existence. The destruc- 
tion of Seleucia is one of those inexcusable deeds 
which must be branded to all time as gigantic crimes. 

Parthia never recovered from the results of her last 
war with Rome ; not that Rome had become more 
strong herself, but because, in the very nature of the 
case, the dynasty which had founded the greatness 
of the Parthian empire had been enervated by its 
successes : it was crumbling to pieces through the 
sheer weakness produced by luxury, corruption, in- 
trigue, and civil war. It is a curious and extraor- 
dinary illustration of the irony of fate that when 
almost in the last throes of dissolution the great dy- 
nasty founded by Arsaces four centuries earlier dealt 
its most tremendous blow at Rome, the hereditary 
foe. One of the last of the descendants of Arsaces 
who sat on the throne was Artabanus, who usurped 
the sceptre from his brother in the year 213 A.D. He 



170 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



proved to be a man of such force that, coming earlier, 
he might have prolonged the existence of the Par- 
thian dynasty several ages. In the year 216 the oft- 
repeated war with Rome was renewed. Artabanus 
had tested his strength by crushing several rivals and 
reducing the greater part of the empire into his 
power. Macrinus, the Roman emperor, suffered two 
crushing defeats from Artabanus and was obliged to 
purchase peace by actually paying an indemnity of 
50,000,000 denarii, equal to $9,000,000, to the great 
rival of Rome almost in the very hour when the 
doom of Parthia was sounding on the great bell of 
time. The hero who wrested a war indemnity from 
a Roman emperor was also the last of his line. Is 
there any event more dramatic in the record of the 
nations ! 





XIII. 

THE HOUSE OF SASSAN. 

We now enter upon a new and most important 
era in the history of Persia. Six centuries have 
come and gone since Alexander the Great overthrew 
the Achemenian dynasty and undertook the pro- 
digious task of establishing a Greco-Persian empire. 
When his successors, to whom he had bequeathed 
the duty of perpetuating his empire, began to lose 
ground and there was hope that Persia might resume 
her independence, the Parthians, in a most unex- 
pected manner, as we have seen, established an em- 
pire so firm and vigorous, that the original division 
of the Persian empire, the province of Persis or Pars, 
was forced to continue under subjection. Thus, 
while undoubtedly Persians fought in the armies of 
the Seleucidae and assisted the Parthians in their 
foreign wars, yet for a space of six centuries they 
had formed merely one of many provinces of an 
empire which indirectly owed its birth to them. 

During this long interval we hear but very little of 
Persia proper. We may gather, however, from the 
records that the Parthians treated the Persians with 
moderation and allowed them to be governed by 
satraps of their own people connected with the 

171 



172 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Achemenid dynasty. In these centuries of com- 
parative repose the Persians did not forget the glory 
of their ancestors, nor the national religion ; and 
they gradually gained new strength, which would be 
required when the decisive hour arrived for them to 
throw off the Parthian yoke. The yearning for in- 
dependence increased as the years went on, for the 
contrast between the coarse Parthians and the intel- 
lectual and refined Persians became constantly more 
evident and galling. With such a history behind 
them, a proud people like the Persians could not 
well endure the rule of those they considered their 
inferiors, even though the chains of the oppressor 
were laid on lightly. 

Another cause arose, as the years went on, which 
increased their hatred of the Parthians. The latter 
were at first followers of Zoroaster, and Vologeses I. 
had ordered a careful collection to be made of the 
writings and precepts of the great prophet of the 
religion of fire worship. But latterly the Parthians 
had fallen away from the strict practice and belief 
in that faith, and had become idolaters, one of the 
forms of this idolatry being a religious reverence 
paid to the early monarchs of the Arsacidae. The 
Persians, being naturally fanatical regarding the 
religion they profess, took offence at the religious 
practices of the Parthians ; this was probably one of 
the reasons that led them finally to revolt. 

The rise of the Neo-Persian or new Persian power, 
as it is sometimes called, was brought about by 
Artaxerxes,* the son of Pabek. To judge from the 

* In the Zend or Persian tongue this name is Ardeshir. 



THE HOUSE OF SASSAN. 



173 



most reliable authorities, he was the hereditary sa- 
trap of Persia, and descended from Sassan, who 
was a scion of the Achemenian dynasty. There is 
nothing incredible in this statement, although some 
modern historians profess to consider it very unlikely 
that the record of such descent could have been kept 
through so many centuries. But Orientals give much 
attention to this very subject of lineage, and some- 
times extend the record to 
the lineage of their favorite 
horses. 

It is said that Artaxerxes, 
when he discerned the 
weakness of Parthia and 
the impatience of the Per- 
sians, was fortified in his 
purpose by secretly hearing 
that Artabanus, the king of 
Parthia, had discovered by 
divination the approaching 
downfall of his dynasty. 

The insurrection began by declaring the inde- 
pendence of Persis. Artaxerxes then proceeded 
to the conquest of Carmania, now called Kerman, 
and gradually carried his arms into Media. Arta- 
banus was at last aroused by these movements 
to offer determined resistance. He was defeated in 
two battles. Parthia was not, however, so reduced 
but that she could bring another large army into the 
field. The decisive conflict occurred, by previous 
appointment, it is said, at Hormuz, in the southwest- 
ern part of the present kingdom of Persia, May 28th 




COIN OF ARDESHIR. I. 



174 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

of the year 227 A.D. The contest was doubtful, and 
was finally decided in favor of Artaxerxes by the 
defection of the Persians who were in the Parthian 
army. Artabanus was slain, and Persia became once 
more a great and commanding power in the world. 

Artaxerxes, or Ardeshir, found himself engaged in 
the beginning of his reign in a war with Rome, which 
now discovered that by the transfer of the sceptre of 
Western and Central Asia from the Parthians to the 
Persians she was farther than ever from pushing her 
conquests eastward, or even holding the possessions 
she already claimed beyond the Mediterranean. 
Nothing impresses one more in considering the rise 
of dynasties and kingdoms in Persia than the amaz- 
ing energy and ability displayed by their founders, 
and often by their immediate successors. We find a 
counterpart to it in Europe only rarely, as in the 
case of Charlemagne or Napoleon. 

Alexander Severus, the Roman emperor, was 
obliged to retire in disgrace before the armies of the 
new Asiatic power. Armenia, which had sought aid 
from Rome and was ruled by Chosroes, of the Par- 
thian line, was brought under subjection, and Arta- 
xerxes now found himself at the head of an empire 
equal to that of the Parthians in their prime. 

Feeling firmly established on the throne, Arta- 
xerxes devoted his attention to the reformation and 
strengthening of the national religion. He caused 
the idols of the Parthians to be destroyed, and or- 
dered a general restoration of the doctrines of 
Zoroaster throughout the empire. The more 
readily to accomplish this purpose, the king col- 



THE HOUSE OF SASSAJV. 



175 



lected the magi or priesthood of Zoroastrianism at 
Persepolis, or Ishtakr, once more the capital of 
Persia. The magi formed a large and distinct class. 
They assembled on this occasion to the number of 
forty thousand, it is said. They were required to 
choose from their number the most worthy ; they 
in turn selected the wisest and most learned and 
the most pious, until the number was reduced from 
four thousand to four hundred, from four hundred 
to forty, and from forty to seven. The seven de- 
cided that Arda 



Viraf, a young priest 
of high repute for 
sanctity, was above 
them all as the rep- 
resentative of their 
religion. 

Arda. Viraf now 
bathed himself in 
the most careful 
manner, and after ormuzd. 

drinking a powerful 

narcotic, laid down to sleep wrapped in pure white 
linen. Seven of the first nobles of the land watched 
beside him while he slept. At the end of seven days 
and nights he awoke and began to recite his inter- 
pretation of the faith of Oromasdao, or Ormuzd. 

This is the record given by Persian historians of 
the way by which the books of the Zendavesta 
were reduced to writing. 

Although, perhaps, this account is highly colored 
in the Oriental style, yet it is certain that in the time 




176 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

and by the order of Artaxerxes, the founder of the 
Sassanian dynasty, the Zendavesta was published 
in written form by Arda Viraf, the high priest of 
Persia. Although but few of the followers of this 
religion now remain, yet the very fact of their ex- 
istence to the present time as a small but highly 
intelligent and respectable sect, both in Persia and 
India, gives very great interest to the question of 
what is the faith established by Zoroaster nearly 
three thousand years ago. 

The Zendavesta was originally composed in the 
pure Persian tongue called the Zend, a branch of the 
Sanscrit. But at that time the Persian language had 
gone through the changes which affect all tongues 
with the lapse of ages. The difference we see be- 
tween the English language of the present day and 
that of so recent a period as that of Chaucer, affords 
a familiar example. When Persia resumed her in- 
dependence, the Zend had become incomprehensible 
except to scholars, and the name then given to the 
spoken language of Persia was Pehlevee. Artaxer- 
xes therefore caused a translation of the Zendavesta 
to be made into Pehlevee. It may be added that 
the ceremonial duties connected with Zoroastrianism 
were numerous, and to any but an Oriental people 
exceedingly burdensome. 

In order more thoroughly to carry out one of the 
purposes which Artaxerxes had in view in throwing 
off the Parthian yoke, the re-establishment of the 
religion of Zoroaster, he now distinctly associated 
the clergy with the government. Never has the 
combination of church and state been more em- 



THE HOUSE OF SASSAN. IJ7 

phatically and authoritatively laid down as a princi- 
ple. Persecution of those who opposed the magi 
and their teachings was not only permitted, but 
proclaimed as one of the arms of Persian law. In a 
very short period the edicts of Artaxerxes against any 
other than the state religion resulted in the closing 
of every place of worship in his dominions, except 
those of the fire-worshippers. It must, we fear, be 
admitted that the example of the Christians of the 
early church acts as a palliation of this intolerance 
of the Zoroastrians ; for almost from the outset, 
intolerance of any belief but their own has been the 
practice of the various Christian sects, enforced, as 
we know, for many ages by fire and torture and the 
sword. Human nature seems to be pretty much the 
same everywhere, in spite of the teachings of reli- 
gion. Doubtless in the early periods of a nation's 
career religious intolerance added to the association 
of church and state are elements of strength ; but 
in the end nothing more surely saps the vigor of a 
state and brings it to premature decay. 

In order still further to display the religious char- 
acter of the Persian revolution, Artaxerxes caused an 
altar with fires to be stamped on the reverse side of 
his coins, with a priest standing on each side. This 
design was continued on all the future coinage of the 
Sassanian dynasty. 

Artaxerxes continued the general form of govern- 
ment which had been established by Darius the First, 
and which has been perpetuated with little change 
to the present day. The provinces were under the 
rule of satraps. When a separate people, as in the 



178 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

case of Armenia, had a royal house of its own, he 
permitted it to continue in power, although tribu- 
tary to Persia and furnishing troops and money. It 
was the latter circumstance which caused a Persian 
monarch to style himself king of kings. Artaxerxes 
also established a regular army. It was a saying of 
his: "There can be no power without an army, no 
army without money, no money without agriculture, 
and no agriculture without justice." On the whole 
the founder of the Neo-Persian monarchy was a man 
of large sense and farsighted views. 

Some of the last words of Artaxerxes to his son 
Sapor, were : " Never forget that as a king you are the 
protector of your religion and your country . . 
You should be an example of piety and virtue, but 
without pride or ostentation. . . . Remember, 
my son, that the fate of the nation depends on the 
conduct of the individual who sits on the throne. 
. . . Learn to meet the frowns of destiny with 
courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with 
moderation and wisdom. . . . May your admin- 
istration be such as to bring the blessings of those 
whom God has confided to our parental care." * 

According to the records of Persian historians, 
Artaxerxes delegated the government to his son 
some time before his death, and sought in retirement 
repose and opportunity for religious reflection. 
There is a sculpture design on the rocks at Tacht-i- 
Bostan which seems to confirm this fact, for it repre- 
sents Artaxerxes presenting the royal diadem to 
Sapor, while Ormuzd, the benevolent ruler of the 
universe, looks on approvingly. 

* This translation is quoted from Rawlinson. 




XIV. 



SAPOR I. 



Artaxerxes, the first of the Sassanians, died 
in 240 A.D. He was succeeded by Shapooree, or, as he 
is known through the Latin and Greek historians, 
Sapor. He was a worthy scion of a great father, 
and by his administrative and military talents left a 
name that ranks with the foremost sovereigns of the 
East. It must be allowed that, like most of the mon- 
archs of that age and country, some of his actions 
would perhaps not be approved in our day. But every 
land and age has its own standard, and it is only fair 
to judge of all by the code of morality under which 
they have been reared. 

At the outset of his reign Sapor was forced to take 
up arms in order to quell the rebellion of the city and 
province of Hatra, between the Euphrates and Ti- 
gris. The city was practically impregnable, as well 
by the character of its inhabitants as the tremendous 
strength of its walls. Manizen, the chieftain of Ha- 
tra, had a daughter, urged by a violent ambition, — a 
dangerous thing in a woman without high moral 
character. She intimated to Sapor that to be queen 
of Persia she would betray her father into his hands. 
She carried out her side of the compact ; but when 

180 



SAPOR I. lol 

Sapor came into possession of Hatra, instead of 
marrying the traitoress he ordered her to be exe- 
cuted. 

About the year 241 Sapor decided that a conven- 
ient time had come to renew hostilities with Rome. 
Gordian was at this time emperor. The chief object 
of Sapor was to strengthen his western frontier, or, 
according to modern diplomatic phrase, " to rectify 
his frontier," by the seizure of several important for- 
tified cities. Of these, Nisibis was perhaps the chief, 
affording to Rome a key by which she could enter 
the territories of Persia. The first movement of the 
Persian campaign was to lay siege to this fortress. 
The Persians, in most respects admirable soldiers in 
their best days, were deficient in a knowledge of 
siege operations, and Nisibis made an obstinate re- 
sistance. At last a breach was effected, and the 
place surrendered. 

But the Romans were not idle, and Gordian was 
assisted by Timesitheus, who defeated Sapor in a 
great battle at Resaina, and recovered Nisibis. The 
untimely death of Timesitheus and the murder of 
Gordian once more turned the tide, and a peace was 
concluded giving equal advantages to both contest- 
ants. During part of the interval of fourteen years 
which followed, Sapor was engaged in wars with the 
hereditary foes in Touran , and Bactria, which had 
been subdued by the Arsacidae, revolted, and seems 
to have permanently secured its independence. 

In the year 258 the Persian king felt that he could 
best counterbalance his losses in the East by taking 
advantage of the disturbances which for some time 



1 82 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

had racked the Roman empire, and once more the 
diamond-studded leathern apron of the blacksmith 
was placed at the head of a Persian host marching to 
attack the strongholds and mailed legions of Rome. 
The two great fortresses of Edessa and Nisibis fell. 
Valerian was emperor when Persia renewed hostili- 
ties. Whether treachery brought about the final re- 
sult is uncertain, but, at any rate, Sapor succeeded 
in forcing Valerian into a position where he was 
obliged to surrender with his entire army. 

This tremendous event is one of the most remark- 
able in the long history of Persia, which is emblaz- 
oned with so many brilliant deeds. It was followed 
by the capture of Antioch and Caesarea Mazaca, the 
most important city in Asia Minor. Sapor overran 
all the Roman possessions in Asia, and like the 
" scourge of God," marked the path of his army 
with fire and blood. The return of the victorious 
army was, however, harassed by the flying squadrons 
of Odenathus, the king of Palmyra and husband of 
the famous Zenobia. ' Odenathus had under his 
command the trained horsemen of the desert, and 
for a time was able to maintain Palmyra as an in- 
dependent government. But after his death the em- 
peror, Aurelian, besieged the superb capital of the 
desert, and Zenobia was led a captive to Rome. 
The ranks of columns which still rise above the 
plains, called Tadmor in the Desert, attest in our 
time to the splendor of the brief-lived kingdom of 
Palmyra. 

Valerian was taken a prisoner to Persia, where he 
remained until he died. There is no good reason to 



SAPOR I. 



183 



doubt that he was treated with clemency and a cer- 
tain degree of honor during his captivity. But after 
his death his skin was removed and preserved as a 
trophy. The Romans made no serious attempt to 
avenge the terrible disaster of Valerian. 

The remaining years of Sapor were devoted to 
cultivating the arts of peace and promoting the wel- 
fare of his empire. He founded a great city in Fars 
or Persis, which was named after him, — Shapoor. 
The ruins which still remain there, suggest its grand- 
eur, as well as the progress 
made by Persia at this period 
in the arts. The ruins of Per- 
sepolis indicate clearly that in 
the Achemenian period -Persia 
had reached a high degree of 
excellence in architecture and 
sculpture, and most likely in 
other arts as well. But during 
the Parthian rule little seems 
to have been done to develop 
the great artistic genius of the 

Persian race. The rise once more of a genuine Aryo- 
Persian dynasty again offered the opportunity for 
the expression of the native taste for the beautiful. 
It is probably to this period that we may assign the 
commencement of the school of architecture and 
decoration which, borrowed from the Persians at a 
later date by the Arabs, and by them carried to 
Syria, Egypt, and Spain, has been called by Euro- 
peans Saracenic. According to a usage common in 
all ages to the monarchs of Persia, Sapor illustrated 




HEAD OF SAPOR I. — 
FROM A GEM. 



184 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

and recorded some of the chief incidents of his reign 
by rock sculptures. 

One of the most interesting of these colossal his- 
toric sculptures represents Sapor and the conquest 
of Valerian. Sapor is on horseback ; kneeling be- 
fore him is the captive emperor, and the Roman 
army is typified by seventeen figures ranged behind 
him on foot. The Persian monarch is supported by 
ten horsemen, representing the terrible cavalry that 
was instrumental in winning the victories of Persia. 
Another most impressive sculpture commemorating 
the same important event includes not less than 
ninety-seven colossal figures. Many other historic 
sculptures were set up by Sapor at Persepolis, Dar- 
abgerd, and elsewhere in Southern Persia. These 
sculptures are sometimes accompanied by inscriptive 
tablets in Greek and Pehlevee. Sapor still further 
illustrated his genius by the construction of numer- 
ous public works, intended to add to the improve- 
ment of the country. Of these, one of the most im- 
portant, which is still in existence, was a great dyke 
across the river Karoon, at Shuster, no less than 
twenty feet wide and twelve hundred feet long. It 
is built of solid hewn masonry. 

The arts of Persia received great impulse during 
the reign of Sapor from a remarkable source. The 
Persian race from the earliest period to the present 
day has been inclined to mysticism and speculation 
in matters of philosophy and religion. Whatever be 
the prevailing creed of the country, it has been as- 
sailed by numerous sects differing from it in more or 
less degree. During the reign of the first Sassan- 



SAPOR 1. 185 

idse, the early Christian church extended its influ- 
ence in all directions, and made many converts 
in the Persian dominions. This, of course, tended 
to increase the great intellectual activity of Persia in 
that period, and added to the problems which Sapor 
was forced to consider. The introduction of Christi- 
anity into the empire at a time when every effort 
was exerted to revive and reform the worship of the 
fire creed, was a serious question. Matters were not 
improved when a third element of discord was intro- 
duced by a prophet who set himself up as the 
founder of a new religion, which, after its founder, 
has been called " Manichaeism." 

Manee was born in Persia about the year 240, A.D. 
He had a broad, unprejudiced mind, strong force of 
character, and great versatility, qualities which led 
him to formulate a religious system which not only 
aroused apprehension among the followers of Zoro- 
aster, but convulsed the entire Christian world. His 
views were looked on as dangerous and impossible 
at that period, but in our time a wider tolerance and 
a truer insight into the relative value of the world's 
creeds and religions, leads us to admire the grandeur 
of the religious system of Manee, even if we are 
unable to accept it as practical while men continue 
to be what they are. 

Manee had profoundly studied the Magian doc- 
trines of Ormuzd and Ahriman, the Levitical ordi- 
nances of the Jews, the mysterious question of the 
Christian Trinity, and the remarkable system of Sakya 
Moonee, called Buddhism. For a time Manee ac- 
cepted Christianity and received holy orders. But 



1 86 THE STORY OE PERSIA. 

the nature of his mind made it difficult to subscribe 
to any one creed. He saw that all the great religions 
of the world contained a share of truth mixed with 
error, and that the principles of morality were com- 
mon to all. It occurred to him to combine in one 
universal creed the essential truths of these leading 
religions. So far the scheme showed good sense, and 
was in harmony with the tendency of our time to 
abolish sectarianism and at least to acknowledge the 
element of truth which is common to the great 
religions of the world. 

But Manee went a step further. He avowed him- 
self to be the Paraclete or Comforter foretold by the 
Saviour, and composed a gospel which he called the 
Ertang, which was illustrated by pictures drawn by his 
own hand ; he claimed that the Ertang should take 
precedence of the New Testament. It was this false 
move that really led to the violent opposition which 
the Christian church displayed towards the Persian 
prophet. The plausibility of his doctrines proved 
so fascinating, however, both to Zoroastrians and 
Christians, that Sapor was impelled by the Magians 
to expel him from Persia, on pain of the extreme 
penalties which the laws of that country then visited 
upon those who attempted to proselyte the fire-wor- 
shippers. 

Manee, being forced to fly, proceeded as far as 
China, where he remained for a number of years. 
Finding no field for the spread of his religious doc- 
trines among the people of the Celestial Kingdom, 
he devoted his attention to cultivating another side 
of his versatile nature. Manee was possessed of 



155 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

a strong love for the fine arts, and he now gave care- 
ful attention to the study of Chinese art, which at 
that early period had already exhibited the originali- 
ty and beauty which we associate with it ; it is what 
is called decorative art, and is particularly rich in the 
rendering of effects of color. We have no means of 
knowing what were the artistic talents of Manee ; but 
we do know that he was able to appreciate whatever 
was beautiful in art, and when, after some years, he 
ventured to return to his native land, he brought 
with him numerous examples of the art of China. 
But he did not long survive his return, for he fell a 
victim to the intolerance of the age, and was put 
to death by the command of Varahnes I. 

Manee must always live in remembrance, however, 
not only as the founder of a great religious sect, but 
as one to whom Persia owes a great debt for the vast 
impulse he imparted to the progress of the arts in 
that country when he returned from China. The 
Persians, like all great races, know how to borrow 
ideas, or at least gain intellectual inspiration, from 
the arts of other art races. The Greeks and the 
Romans did the same — in fact, it will be found that 
nearly all national arts were first inspired by foreign 
ideas. But, like the Greeks, the Persians had such 
artistic talent of their own that they very soon gave 
a national character to what they had borrowed ; 
just as when their victorious kings put their own 
stamp upon the gold that they captured from the 
enemy. The impulse given to Persian art by Manee, 
at a period when the government was ready to en- 
courage its growth, was incalculable, and may be 



SAPOR I. 



189 



said to be felt even to the present day. We know 
that soon after occurred a great revival in the deco- 
rative arts of embroidery in 
Persia, and that carpets of 
silk and of wool, of great 
beauty of design and exquis- 
ite texture, were made in that 
country, which has ever since 
that period been famous ioi\ 
its textile fabrics and fine 
needle-work. Sapor, as a 
patron of art, aided the im- 
pulse given to it by Manee, 
by importing artists from 
Greece and Byzantium. 

Sapor I. died in 271, after 
a reign of thirty-one years. 
He is said to have been a 
man of handsome presence 
and great personal courage. 
What we do know is that he 
was an excellent soldier, and a SAP0R 1.— from a Persian 

SCULPTURE. 

patriotic sovereign who left 

behind him the record of being a benefactor to his 
people, and one of the ablest monarchs who has 
occupied the throne of Persia. 




ISFSr^i^ ' :v 5>5^f""^^^ 




§S/j~-'i A ~ 


3S|p==|KS3S 


'i i > 


af"i 


. ■ .. . 


Slp&^^v 1 


^^^^^W^^^^pi 


Rl 


j ! 


B^'~«r^_ i ."a" >" 


^^^wl^^^^R 


%M 




S^ilR" 






f^s^^^A^^ 


IP^-y; 


IsS^Ss^r^SSiSjySPwSr- SW "^Sv "^" . 






a^»»^^ 



XV. 

PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 

The energies of the Sassanian dynasty seemed for 
a time to reach their limit after the death of Sapor I. 
His successors for several reigns were either weak 
and unfortunate or men of merely average ability. 
The corruption and reaction which follow after great 
effort combined with the gain of wealth and power 
now showed itself for several generations in the char- 
acter of the sovereigns of Persia. Hormisdas, or Hor- 
muz, a son of Sapor, succeeded his father, and seems 
to have been a man of amiable disposition. During 
his reign Manee returned to Persia, and was at first 
received graciously. A castle was presented to him, 
and there he proceeded to organize a great sect, 
called after him Manichaean. But when, in the year 
272, Varahnes I., or Bahram, came to the throne he 
caused Manee to be seized and flayed alive. The 
skin of the unfortunate prophet was suspended, 
stuffed with straw, over a gate in the city of Sha- 
poor, a warning to all who dared to promulgate 
doctrines differing from those of the established 
religion of Persia. 

It is singular that there is no clear record of the 
entire period that elapsed between the death of 

1 go 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. I9I 

Sapor I. and the reign of Sapor II. For example, 
we may infer, but have no precise proof, that Hor- 
misdas II. had a son who incurred the resentment of 
the nobles and was by them imprisoned on the death 
of his father and deprived of the succession. The 
election of a monarch by the nobles is a form which 
has existed in that country, although in most cases 
it has been only a form, by which the people seem to 
approve the succession of the crown prince. But in 
this instance the nobles of Persia showed their power, 
by combining to exclude the oldest son of Hormisdas 
and give the crown to an infant son of that monarch 
born several months after the death of his father. 

Immediately on his birth the infant was elected 
king with the name of Sapor II. He was born in 
the year 309, and reigned from the cradle to the 
grave, over a period of seventy-two years. During 
this long space of three quarters of a century ten 
emperors succeeded each other as rulers of the 
Roman empire. 

When we consider the circumstances surrounding 
the early years of Sapor II. and what obstacles he 
overcame during his long career, we are bound to 
allow that he was a man possessed of extraordinary 
ability for government and war. A succession of 
feeble monarchs had weakened the power bequeath- 
ed them by the founders of the Sassanian dynasty. 
The fact that a boy was king, counselled by a re- 
gency of nobles of very ordinary talents, only aggra- 
vated the condition of the empire. Insurrections at 
home and frequent invasions over the border de- 
voured the resources of Persia, and it seemed only 



192 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

a question of time when the great empire would fall 
to pieces from the lack of a strong arm to guide its 
destinies. 

As if conscious of the career that was before him, 
the youthful king early devoted himself to athletic 
exercises, in which he excelled, and to study of the 
arts of governing and of war. As he approached 
manhood he seized the reins of government with a 
vigor that soon informed his vassals and enemies 
that a master hand was again at the helm. At 
the age of sixteen Sapor II. freed himself from the 
dictation of the regency and took personal command 
of his armies. From the first, victory attended his 
arms, invaders were driven back, and the foes who 
had preyed on the vitals of Persia soon learned to 
quail before the terrible and irresistible genius of a 
mere youth. It is rare indeed that such examples of 
precociousness are found on record, followed as it 
was by a vigor that never failed until death quenched 
its fire. 

At the age of twenty-eight Sapor had restored the 
Persian empire to its wonted state of tranquillity and 
power. He had tested the force of his genius and 
was ready to renew hostilities with the Roman em- 
pire. A pretext for proclaiming war he found in the 
haughty remonstrances of Constantine the Great, who 
had embraced Christianity and zealously sought to 
protect the Christian subjects of Persia from the 
fierce persecution waged against them by Sapor II., 
who, whatever his other virtues, was of a stern and 
sanguinary disposition. 

The great war which now opened between the 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 1 93 

rival empires lasted for twenty-seven years. While 
fortune, with her proverbial caprice, perched some- 
times on one banner and sometimes on the other, 
yet, on the whole, the results were largely in favor 
of Persia ; while often defeating the enemy, and 
causing the death of a Roman emperor in battle, 
Sapor, when commanding in person, never lost a bat- 
tle during the entire war. The chief events of this 
protracted conflict were the three sieges of Nisibis, 
which failed, although Sapor obtained it finally by 
the negotiations following the overthrow of Julian; 
the great victory of Singara, won over the Roman 
army commanded by the Emperor Constantine ; 
the capture of Armida ; the defeat of the Emperor 
Julian ; and the disgraceful peace by which Jovian, 
his successor, purchased the escape of the Roman 
legions from the grip of the Persian host com- 
manded by Sapor. In all these operations we dis- 
cover in this military monarch immense determina- 
tion, fortitude and courage, daring tempered by 
caution, skill in conducting a campaign and ma- % 
nceuvring an army on the battle-field, and a cruel- 
ty tempered by good faith in the keeping of com- 
pacts with the enemy — altogether a character to 
command our respect and often our admiration. 

The event for which Sapor II. will probably be 
most remembered by Christian nations was the over- 
throw of Julian. This emperor won the abhorrence 
of Christians for abandoning Christianity, and en- 
deavoring to restore the Paganism of the Greeks 
after it had been officially abolished by the con- 
version of Constantine. By the Christians Julian 



194 Tl * E STORY OF PERSIA. 

received the hateful epithet of Apostate. But an 
impartial examination into his case enables us more 
easily to render justice to a man who, if mistaken in 
his efforts to restore the dead past, was at least sin- 
cere, and deserves praise for his lofty character and 
genius. 

It was, perhaps, too much to expect that one who 
had been steeped in the learning of the Greeks, and 
who had studied their paganism in the elevated pages 
of Homer and Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, should 
accept, as a matter of course, the doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, which were until recently unacceptable to a 
very large number of his subjects. Julian was a 
scholar and a philosopher ; he was also a great 
general who would have gained a permanent place 
in history even if he had never undertaken to sup- 
plant the cross by a revival of a refined paganism. 
Until recently Christian historians have failed to 
render justice to the emperor Julian. 

After conducting several severe campaigns with 
great success in the north of Europe, Julian was 
called to the throne of the Roman empire, and im- 
mediately made preparations on a colossal scale for 
the invasion of Persia. 

The dispositions made by Sapor to meet the most 
formidable expedition which had yet been under- 
taken against Persia, were of a nature to indicate 
the hand of a master, showing courage tempered by 
caution, a clear knowledge of the danger which threat- 
ened him, and careful preparations to meet it success- 
fully. When Julian was at Antioch massing his 
forces for the campaign, the Persian king sent an 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 1 95 

embassy suggesting in respectful terms that a peace 
be concluded, leaving to each state the limits it then 
occupied. Julian haughtily replied that Sapor might 
have saved himself the trouble of sending an embassy, 
as he proposed to treat with him in person in a short 
time. The Roman emperor, while well aware of the 
power of his rival, overestimated his own qualifica- 




gag'lg If II. Will' lli^J EF^". :-■ m ■■!!. i ■;■ ' ■ J'l ■ 

PERSIAN CAVALRYMAN. — FROM AN ANCIENT SCULPTURE. 



tions ; the same arrogance, which was born of a de- 
sire to imitate Alexander the Great, led him also to 
offend Arsaces, King of Armenia, who was an ally of 
Rome. The Armenians, newly converted to Chris- 
tianity, were deeply affronted by the insults offered 
to their religion by the Roman emperor, while their 
sovereign resented the lofty tone with which Julian 



196 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

commanded him to furnish thirty thousand troops 
for the expedition. As the plan of the campaign 
made it necessary for Julian to preserve the friend- 
ship of Armenia, the course taken by him was im- 
prudent in the highest degree. 

On the other hand, Sapor, although victorious in 
so many conflicts with the Romans, and sure of the 
veterans who composed his army, acted with the 
greatest prudence, holding himself in check and 
calmly waiting for events to develop a course of 
action. Only a general whom experience had made 
justly confident of his own powers would have ven- 
tured upon the plans which Sapor adopted for resist- 
ing the advance of such an army and general as were 
now steadily aiming at the overthrow of the Persian 
empire. 

Julian set out from Antioch for the Euphrates in 
the early spring. His army numbered at least ninety- 
five thousand men, of whom many had become inured 
to war under his own eye, in four years of desperate 
fighting against the martial tribes of Germany. A 
body of eighteen thousand men was detached to man- 
oeuvre in Northern Media with an auxiliary force of 
thirty thousand Armenians, distracting the attention 
of Sapor by an invasion of his dominions in the 
northwest, and then, marching along the line of the 
Tigris, rejoin the main army. 

The point which Julian intended to reach first 
was Southern Mesopotamia, whence the heart of 
Persia could be easily approached. By looking at 
the map the reader may easily follow the course se- 
lected by Julian for carrying out his purpose. A 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II 1 97 

fleet of over eleven hundred galleys, probably small 
flat-bottomed boats, was in readiness on the Eu- 
phrates to transport the siege trains, the baggage, 
and the provisions. Fifty of these vessels were so 
constructed as to serve also as pontoons for bridg- 
ing. As the fleet floated down the tawny river the 
legions of Rome marched proudly along the right 
bank of the Euphrates. The disposition of this army 
on the march was skilfully made to protect it on all 
sides from any unforeseen attacks of the enemy. 
At Zaitha Julian addressed his troops in an eloquent 
speech, in which he encouraged them by relating the 
past successes of Rome, and foretold an easy victory 
over a weak and timid. enemy. 

A number of small but well-fortified places along 
the line of march were left unmolested, on agreeing 
to preserve neutrality, as Julian was impatient of 
allowing any sieges or assaults to interfere with the 
march or reduce the size of his army. In this he 
committed a military blunder. At Hit the Romans 
found that all the male population had fled, leaving 
the women and children behind, supposing that they 
would be safe. But Julian permitted his soldiers to 
massacre them all. Such a deed as this tends to 
withdraw our sympathy from an emperor who had 
loudly proclaimed himself as a reformer and phil- 
osopher. 

At Hit the Romans entered on the rich alluvial 
lowlands of Babylonia, frequently intersected by 
broad canals. Up to this time the Persians had of- 
fered no resistance to the Roman advance. But now 
they changed their tactics, and flying squadrons of 



I98 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

cavalry constantly hovered on the flank of the invad- 
ing army or threatened it in front, cutting off small 
detachments and stragglers. The result was greatly 
to harass the Romans and sometimes actually to 
check the onward march of the heavy-armed legions. 
On arriving before the walls of Peri Sabor, or, as the 
Persians called it, Firooz Shapoor, Julian found that 
the place was too important to leave in his rear, 
having, as it did, a large population and powerful 
garrison. The resistance was exceedingly obstinate, 
and the place was finally surrendered only after 
Julian had caused an immense moving tower to be 
constructed which overtopped the walls, and laid 
bridges across the ramparts. Even then he was 
obliged to permit the entire population to retire with 
clothes and money. 

Proceeding thence southwest, Julian at last suc- 
ceeded in transporting his fleet and army from the 
Euphrates to the Tigris through a canal which 
joined the two rivers, and found himself opposite to 
Ctesiphon. This city, the last capital of Parthia, 
and still a most important resort of the court of 
Persia, was the strategic point at which the Roman 
emperor directed his plans. With Ctesiphon in his 
hands the campaign would be a success even if he 
proceeded no farther ; to retire without besieging it 
would be to return baffled if not disgraced. But a 
large Persian army with elephants and chariots de- 
fended the passage of the Tigris. Julian at this 
juncture displayed both ability and courage. He 
succeeded in forcing the passage with the aid of his 
ships, and put the Persian army to flight. And now 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 1 99 

commenced a race for the possession of Ctesiphon, 
which must have been most exciting. The Persians 
flew for refuge within the walls, while the Romans pur- 
sued in order to enter the gates with the fugitives. 
But the Persians were in first, and the gates were 
firmly closed as the enemy's troops dashed up to the 
drawbridges. Julian had lost the prize that at one 
moment seemed in his grasp, and from that hour 
the star of his fortune began to decline. 

Admirably fortified, well garrisoned, and victualled 
for a long siege, it was evident that Julian would be 
obliged to make a formal investment of Ctesiphon 
and perhaps spend months without its walls. This 
would have been sufficiently trying in that hot and 
malarious climate, even if he could count on being 
left unmolested to carry on the tedious operations of 
a siege. But this was exactly what could not be ex- 
pected. While it was true that Julian had defeated 
one Persian army, he well knew that a much larger 
force, under the command of the great king himself, 
was in the neighborhood, awaiting the critical hour 
when it could swoop down on the jaded legions of 
the invader, and perhaps under the eagle eye of their 
redoubtable sovereign wrest still another triumph 
from the hosts of Rome. 

It was a trying moment for the proud and haughty 
emperor. After his vaunted boasts it was doubly 
hard to think of giving the order to retire. But, 
like a prudent general, he allowed himself to be 
guided by expediency, and reluctantly decided to 
retreat. A greater captain might perhaps have 
made the very desperateness of the situation minis- 



200 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ter to victory, for even retreat had now become 
dangerous. 

Having made his decision, Julian commanded the 
entire fleet to be burned, with the exception of the 
pontoon ships, as he proposed to return by the line 
of the Tigris instead of the Euphrates. This plan 
would lead the army through a country at once 
more healthy and abounding in provisions, and ena- 
ble him to form a junction with the corps under 
Procopius. But, on the other hand, this course 
made pursuit by the Persians more easy. A retreat- 
ing general is always forced to make a choice of evils. 

But before the retreat began, Sapor, wily as well 
as skilful, and keeping a careful watch on the move- 
ments of the enemy, sought to gain time and still 
further entangle his antagonist in difficulties by once 
more sending an embassy to Julian with proposals 
of peace. It would have been fortunate for Julian 
if he had accepted these negotiations, both for him- 
self and for Rome. 

No sooner had the Roman army broken up its 
camp and turned its face homewards than a cloud of 
dust began to rise up above the horizon. It grew 
rapidly, and erelong the spears and breastplates 
glittering through the dust betokened the approach 
of the army of the " Great King." Sapor had been 
lying in wait for his opportunity to spring on the 
enemy, and now it had come. The Persian vanguard 
made a violent attack on the rear of the retreating 
army. True to the training they had received, the 
Roman veterans stood their ground and repulsed the 
attack. This was no more than Sapor had expected, 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 201 

and although for the moment calling off his troops, 
he closely followed the enemy, watching every oppor- 
tunity to harass them, and burning the forage on 
which Julian in taking this route had calculated to 
subsist his army. 

The march of the Romans was greatly impeded, 
and the troops were worn and disheartened by the 
obstinate persistence of the foe, as well as the scar- 
city of food which was now beginning to be felt. 
The hardy horsemen of Persia, well armed and nim- 
ble, were able to endure, and now here, now there, 
never rested from the policy of constant attack which 
Sapor adopted. The emperor himself began at last 
to yield under the distressing circumstances which 
surrounded him. At night in his tent he fancied 
that he saw the Genius of Rome sadly stealing past 
him with her emblems of power depressed. To add 
to the horror of the situation, the soothsayers de- 
clared the omens of sacrifice to be adverse, and 
warned him to avoid active hostilities. But yet, 
what could he do but fight, for the constant attacks 
of the Persians obliged the emperor to be ever on 
the alert and repel the enemy with open force ; 
likewise no food could be obtained without fighting. 

On the tenth day after the retreat began, the Ro- 
mans struck their tents with the hope that the 
enemy had at last desisted from the pursuit that was 
fast wasting away their strength. Far as the eye 
could see, the plains were clear of any appearance of 
the army of Sapor. But near Samarah the country 
became hilly, and as the Romans entered on this 
stage of the march, they were suddenly surprised by 



202 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

a tremendous attack delivered by the Persian army, 
which, from the covert of the hills, dashed from all 
sides against the Roman legions. The critical mo- 
ment had come which demanded every energy, or 
the Roman army was lost. But half-armed, Julian 
rushed from his tent to rally his lines ; in the heat 
of the conflict his side was pierced by a Persian 
spear, and he was borne to the ground mortally 
wounded. 

The fury of the Romans at the fate of their com- 
mander, instead of causing a rout, nerved them to 
revenge, and a terrible conflict raged until night. 
Both armies suffered heavily, but the advantage lay 
with the Persians, because they had voluntarily re- 
tired, prepared to renew the attack on the morrow ; 
while the invaders had lost their general, and with- 
out provisions or reinforcements, could only foresee 
ultimate destruction. 

Julian died in his pavilion at midnight. A council 
of generals was immediately summoned to elect a 
general and emperor in his stead. Unwillingness on 
the part of several to accept such a responsible post, 
jealousy on the part of others, prevented the elec- 
tion of the fittest, and the choice finally fell upon 
Jovian, who was immediately inaugurated, and 
thus achieved a place in history as a Caesar, which 
his moderate abilities never could otherwise have 
won. 

The Persians, on the following day, renewed the 
attack on the retreating army. Nerved by despera- 
tion, the Romans repelled their assailants, but only 
with very severe losses to themselves, and continued 



PERSIA UNTIL THE REIGN OF SAPOR II. 203 

the retreat for four days more. Then the astute king 
of Persia considered that the time had come when 
the Romans would be willing to purchase their escape 
by advantageous terms of peace, and he again re- 
newed negotiatious. He rightly judged the temper 
of the enemy. Jovian commissioned two generals to 
treat with the commissioners of the " Great King." 
Never since the foundation of Rome, had she 
been forced to listen to such rigorous terms; but 
every day increased the peril of the invaders, and 
Jovian reluctantly accepted and ratified the treaty 
proposed by Sapor. It was stipulated that the peace 
now concluded should last for thirty years, and the 
Romans be permitted to return unmolested across 
the river. Rome, on the other hand, ceded the prov- 
inces she surrendered to Persia without delay, with- 
drawing her garrisons from the important fortresses 
she abandoned. Both sides honorably respected the 
compact, and Sapor furnished the survivors of the 
Roman army with provisions. 

Rome never rallied from this blow in the East. 
Often did she renew the contest in later ages, but 
she never recovered the prestige nor the provinces 
ravished from her when Julian fell on the field of 
Samarah. 

It is impossible to consider the conduct of Sapor, 
without profound admiration. For twenty-seven 
years he waged war with Rome ; he had never lost 
a battle where he commanded in person. He had 
vanquished three Roman emperors, and closed this 
relentless war by wresting from the iron grip of 
Rome, some of her fairest provinces and most im- 



204 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

pregnable strongholds. In the course of his long 
military career, he displayed the qualities which 
make a great commander.* 

It has been the custom of Western writers to 
assume that Orientals, including the Persians, are 
inferior in mettle to Europeans. It may be granted 
that Eastern soldiers are more dependent than 
European troops on leadership, and with the loss of 
their general are more easily routed. But properly 
led, there are no better fighters than some Asiatic 
races, and foremost among them are the Persians. 
The frequent wars of Persia with Europeans prove 
this fact. If Darius the Great had led the Persians 
against the Greeks in person, there is no doubt that 
their victory would have been more uncertain. The 
conquests of Alexander were rendered easy by the 
character of the Persian monarch he had to overcome. 
But when the Persians were led by the genius of the 
Arsacidae and the Sassanians we see of what they 
were capable. 

No greater soldiers have lived than the tremendous 
legions with which Rome vanquished the Carthagin- 
ians, the Gauls, and finally the redoubtable phalanxes 
of Macedonia. Until she attacked Persia, Rome had 
been invincible. For five centuries such generals as 
Crassus and Antony, Trajan and Julian, had dashed 

* One cannot avoid drawing a comparison here between the cam- 
paign of Julian against Persia and the invasion of Russia by Napoleon 
Bonaparte. The tactics of resistance employed by Sapor and the 
Russian generals possess many points of resemblance. It is greatly 
to be re'gretted, for the glory of Napoleon, he did not, like Julian, 
close his career on the battle-field, instead of in exile on a lonely isle 
of the sea. 




x 

si 
H 

X 
< 
H 

ei • 
<J 

O O 



206 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

their armies against the frontiers of Persia in vain ; 
for five centuries of hostilities Rome had made no 
impression on the Asiatics beyond the Euphrates. 
Army after army was shattered before the military 
genius and invincible cavalry of the Persian empire. 
Emperors were captured or slain, and disgraceful 
treaties concluded, but in all that period not one 
army of Persia surrendered to Rome — not one sov- 
ereign of Persia was led at the triumphal car of a 
Roman consul. And yet in her thousand years of 
conquest and war, Rome attacked no country with 
such pomp and preparation, or such formidable 
armies and armaments, as she hurled against Persia. 
In view of these facts, we are perfectly safe in 
assuming that, when properly led, the world has 
produced no greater soldiers than the Asiatics who 
leaped to battle at the command of Sapor and 
Chosroes. 




fi.fi. 



P^Si 


spr^T 


§S 






g 


»2S»fe 


Bill 


ililfS 



XVI. 

FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. L 

SAPOR II. died in the year 380 A.D., old and 
clothed with renown. Never, since the death of 
Darius I., had Persia reached such a pinnacle of 
power. But the repose which Sapor had won for 
his country was followed by civil wars and dissen- 
sions, such as occur in the history of all nations, and 
he was succeeded by sovereigns whose incapacity 
was in marked contrast with the genius he had 
displayed. 

One hundred and fifty years went by. They may 
be dismissed with a few rapid paragraphs in the 
condensed pages of history ; yet in that long and 
comparatively obscure period the Persian empire 
was steadily pursuing its career; monarchs were 
crowned and died ; the intrigues of the luxurious 
court went on as ever ; births and marriages con- 
tinued in the land ; the merchant in the bazaar, the 
cobbler at his bench, the artist with his pencil, the 
priest at his altar, pursued their avocations as they 
do now, thinking their own lives and times of more 
importance than all that had preceded, or than were 
to come, when they too had joined the nations 
beyond the tomb. 

207 



208 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Long intervals of peace were broken by insurrec- 
tions in the subject provinces, or wars were renewed 
with the hereditary enemy — Rome. But during 
those five generations few men or events call for 
especial record here. Among these we may note 
the high character of Isdigerd I., who appears to 
have borne such an excellent repute, that the 
Emperor Arcadius on his death-bed bequeathed his 
youthful son, Theodosius, to the care of Isdigerd. 
The Persian king accepted the trust in the spirit in 
which it was given. He deputed a high officer of 
his court to instruct the young prince, and assisted 
him to mount the throne. Ever after Isdigerd re- 
mained on friendly terms with the emperor, who 
had been his ward, and refrained from hostilities 
with Rome. 

When we consider the excellent character of some 
of the monarchs who in Europe have achieved an 
unenviable notoriety for the fierceness of their reli- 
gious persecutions, we are not surprised to learn that 
Isdigerd, notwithstanding his honorable course to- 
wards Theodosius, was one of the most cruel persecu- 
tors the world has seen. At first he inclined to 
Christianity during his relations with the Romans 
of Constantinople, and at the instigation of Chris- 
tian bishops, — we regret to record it, — persecuted 
the fire-worshippers. But repenting later on of his 
Christian leanings, he became a most bigoted ma- 
gian, and ordered all the Christians in Persia to be 
exterminated with cruel tortures. It is not singu- 
lar that all classes of his subjects having suffered 
from this sanguinary and inconsistent conduct, 



FROM. SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 



209 



Isdigerd should have left a name but little loved ; 
they branded him with the epithet Al-Athim — the 
Wicked. 

When the throne became vacant, Bahram or Varah- 
ran, the eldest son of Isdigerd I. and the rightful 
heir, was in Mesopotamia with the Arabs, who were 
dependent on Persia. For some reason, not stated, 
he had been sent there in boyhood and received his 
education among the fierce horsemen and hunters of 
the desert. It was believed that he possessed the 
harsh and violent character of his father. His 
brother, Sapor, 
in turn, had 
made himself 
obnoxious to his 
countrymen by 
his ill-timed am- 
bition. In order 
to seize the 
throne he had abandoned his satrapy in Arme- 
nia at a critical time, and the Armenians had re- 
volted. The nobles therefore decided to allow 
the succession to neither of the brothers ; they 
selected and crowned Chosroes, a descendant of 
Artaxerxes I., who was but distantly connected 
with Isdigerd I. 

But Varahran was not of a temper to permit his 
rights to be stripped from him so easily. He had 
the address to induce the Arabs to furnish him with 
a large army, and swooped down on Ctesiphon with 
such irresistible energy that Chosroes, the nobles, 
and the magi accepted him as the rightful sovereign 




COIN OF SAPOR II. 



2IO THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

of Persia without a struggle. Chosroes retired again 
to private life, and it is to the credit of Varahran 
that he does not appear to have in any way molested 
that prince for usurping a position to which he had 
no legal right. 

Varahran V. was crowned 420 A.D. Perhaps as a 
matter of policy, he at once sided strongly with the 
magians, and vigorously persecuted the Christians in 
his dominions. So far did he carry his measures 
against them, that he peremptorily demanded the 
surrender of Christians who had fled for refuge to 
Constantinople. When Theodosius, the emperor, re- 
jected the demand, Varahran declared war. Hostili- 
ties continued only a short time, and peace was con- 
cluded in 422. No events of importance character- 
ized the two campaigns during which it lasted ; 
neither side showed much spirit in maintaining it, 
and the advantages were nearly evenly balanced. 

Varahran was the more willing to conclude a peace 
because of the disturbed state of Armenia. A pe- 
culiar condition of things existed in that province. 
The Armenians were and are still a people very tena- 
cious of the national feeling ; they have clung together 
with great firmness, and have obstinately resisted all 
who have ruled over them. And yet since their 
first appearance in history they have rarely been in- 
dependent, even when their rulers or kings have been 
of their own race. At the period of which we write, 
the Armenians were Christians, and yet were divided 
on the question of rulers. Artaxerxes, their king, 
who was a feudatory to Persia, was a Christian, and 
a descendant of the Arsacidae, to whom the Arme- 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 211 

nians were attached. But he was a man of the worst 
character, and the nobles therefore preferred, instead 
of continuing under such a prince, to have him de- 
throned and to request Varahran V. to make Arme- 
nia a simple province of the Persian empire. But 
the patriarch or primate of the Armenian clergy op- 
posed this measure, arguing, strangely, as it appears 
to us, that a Christian ruler was preferable, even if 
desperately wicked, to a pagan prince. In the end 
the nobles carried their point ; the patriarch was de- 
posed from office, Artaxerxes was dethroned, and 
Armenia, henceforth called Persarmenia, ceased to 
be independent in any sense, and J. 

received Persian governors. We HlL 

think it must be admitted that jfff 

Varahran acted with moderation <2 ^^^^ > 
and wisdom in these transactions n»7 

During the reign of this prince W 

Persia first began to be molested by '^is^L. 

the fierce inroads of an obscure -^ -~~ ~ - 

numerous horde, who came from 

HOUSEHOLD FIRE- 

the steppes on the east of the altar. 

Caspian Sea. Persian writers call them Ha'iatheleh. 
The Greek historians speak of them as Ephthalites 
and White Huns. It is very possible they were 
the original Turks from whom proceeded the Ot- 
toman Turks at a later period. In any case, they 
were a brave and formidable people, and when it was 
whispered at Ctesiphon that their khakhan, or chief, 
had burst over the northeast border of Persia with a 
vast host, great alarm was aroused. It was expected 
that Varahran would take immediate and sufficient 



212 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

measures to repel this formidable invasion. But to 
the consternation of his people he took the matter 
very coolly, and announced his intention of going on 
one of the hunting expeditions for which he had a 
passion. For this purpose he named his brother, 
Narses, regent during his absence, and left the capi- 
tal. 

The course taken by Varahran, when such a crisis 
was threatening, led all to conclude that his mind was 
disordered ; and by the advice of the nobles, Narses 
sent an embassy to patch up a hasty peace with the 
Ephthalites, before they could overrun the whole of 
Persia. The terms offered by the embassadors were 
so humiliating, including as they did the payment of 
a tribute by Persia, that the king of the Ephthalites 
accepted them and promised to abandon the Persian 
territory as soon as the first instalment of the tribute 
had been paid. 

In the meantime nothing was heard from Varah- 
ran ; he had mysteriously disappeared, and no news 
came to indicate his movements. All 'was in sus- 
pense at the capital, when a swift herald suddenly 
dashed into the city, on a panting steed covered with 
foam and dust, and alighted at the palace gates. He 
announced great tidings : the complete overthrow of 
the Ephthalites, the death of their king, the capture 
of his wife, the seizure of vast plunder, and the 
pursuit of the flying and scattered foe towards the 
Oxus. 

It seems that with a secrecy and celerity that 
show very unusual ability, Varahran had made his 
way to Adiarbene with a few picked horsemen. Ar- 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 21 3 

riving there he collected an additional force of light 
cavalry and pushed eastward along the narrow alluvial 
plain between the Caspian and the Elborz mountains, 
travelling cautiously but swiftly by night, and taking 
every precaution to conceal his movements. By this 
means he arrived in the vicinity of Merv, where the 
host of the Ephthalites was encamped awaiting the 
tribute money. Varahran aided his preparations for 
an attack by filling the dried skins of oxen with loose 
pebbles, and attaching them to the necks of horses. 
When night came on, and the enemy, little suspect- 
ing danger, were asleep, he sounded the charge and 
fell upon the slumbering camp like a thunderbolt. 
The rattling noise of the pebbles in the skins in- 
creased the terror that ensued, and the Persian caval- 
ry drove irresistibly over the Ephthalite host. In the 
awful confusion that ensued a vast number of the bar- 
barians were slaughtered, including their king, and 
the remainder were put to flight and pursued without 
mercy for many a league. 

Having achieved this great victory, Varahran sent 
a detachment across the Oxus which administered 
another crushing defeat to the White Huns ; they 
sued for peace, and Varahran set up a pillar to mark 
the future boundary between the two countries. He 
returned to his capital overwhelmed with the admir- 
ing plaudits of his subjects. It is said by Persian 
historians that he proposed next to invade India, 
adding a province or two in that quarter to his 
dominions, and introducing Indian musicians into 
Persia. Although this expedition is doubted by 
some modern historians, the writer is inclined to 



214 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

think the account is based on fact, although perhaps 
exaggerated by the somewhat partial historians of 
that period. 

There is a characteristic story related of Varahran 
V. by Persian writers. It is said that one day he 
was seated with his favorite mistress in an upper pa- 
vilion overlooking a plain. They were looking out 
of a window when two wild asses appeared. The 
king drew his bow, and, being a man of great 
strength and skilled in the chase, shot an arrow 
with such force that it transfixed both animals. 
Proud of the strength and skill displayed, Varahran 
turned to the lady for the words of praise to which 
he was accustomed. But she airily answered, " Prac- 
tice makes perfect." The king was so incensed by 
such apparent indifference, that he ordered her to 
immediate execution. The next moment he repent- 
ed of his rage, and contented himself by banishing 
her from the palace. 

Years went by ; quite likely the haughty king 
thought sometimes of the fair lady whom he had 
treated so harshly, but perhaps his pride would not 
permit him to send for her, and all trace of her was 
lost. Then it happened that he went hunting, and 
towards evening he saw a sight that not only at- 
tracted his attention, but also his curiosity, to a 
remarkable degree. He saw a woman carrying a 
cow on her shoulders up and down the stairs of a 
country house. He sent for her, and inquired how 
she was able to perform such a feat of strength. 
She quietly replied, perhaps with a twinkle in her 
eye as she dropped her veil, " Practice makes per- 




::: 5 £ B •-) 



2l6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

feet." The king, recognized the lady, no longer 
young, but still fair and attractive, whom he had 
driven so cruelly from his presence. She had shrewd- 
ly planned this feat of skill with the hope that she 
might sometime win back her royal lover. She 
began with a small calf, taking it up the steps each 
day, and gaining strength in proportion as the calf 
grew. It is needless to say that Varahran was so 
overjoyed to see her that he invited the lady to be- 
come once more an inmate of his palace. There 
is nothing improbable in this story, as it is quite 
in accordance with Oriental character, except as re- 
gards the size and weight of the cow. In Persia, 
however, cows are small, and perhaps the tale in 
its first form meant a gazelle rather than a cow. 

Varahran lost his life in a manner highly char- 
acteristic of his vigorous, impetuous, but eccentric 
career. He was called by the Persians Bahram Goor, 
or Bahram the Wild Ass, because of his passion for 
hunting that swift but graceful animal.* In the 
twentieth year of his reign this talented sovereign 
was chasing a wild ass heedless of all but the nimble- 
footed beast he sought to make his quarry. Without 
warning, the king's horse plunged into one of the dry 
quicksands which are found on the plains of Persia, 
and in an instant the king was swallowed out of 
sight, f 

* The onager or wild ass is still seen on the desert plains of Persia ; 
it is of a handsome sorrel hue and incredibly fleet. 

f A friend of the writer came on one of these quaking quicksands 
near Teheran, in his carriage ; but it was less dangerous than the one 
which swallowed Bahram Goor. The writer's horse also floundered 
in a quagmire at the base of the cone of Demavend, and he escaped 



FROM SAPOR If. TO CHOSROES /. 21? 

Varahran was a monarch whose character was such 
as to make him popular and to leave a mark in 
history. His faults were chiefly those of his educa- 
tion and country. While his energy, originality, and 
courage were popular qualities that would attract the 
admiration and love of his subjects, indicating, as they 
did, a strong and breezy individuality, and giving a 
tinge of romance to his reign, as an administrator 
and a soldier he favorably disappointed the fears of 
the Persians, and enlarged and strengthened the 
empire he inherited. 

The reign of Perozes was remarkable for unfortu- 
nate wars with the vassal kingdom of Armenia and 
with the Ephthalites, a tribe of Tartar warriors on 
the northern shores of the Caspian, descendants 
of the Turanians, who had so often sorely beset 
Persia from the northeast. This reign was also 
marked by a terrible drought which lasted seven 
years, accompanied by pestilence. Many thousands 
perished in Persia at that time. The Ephthalites 
succeeded in so badly defeating Perozes that he 
made peace on condition of not passing a pillar 
which was set up to mark the frontier. Feeling bit- 
terly the disgrace to which he had been subjected, 
he broke the terms of the treaty and marched once 
more against the Ephthalites. By a stratagem the 
entire Persian army fell into their power, and the king 
himself lost his life. Perozes was a man of good dis- 
position, with few vices and great personal courage ; 
but he was deficient as a commander in the field. 

only by grasping a bush and throwing himself off the saddle, while 
the horse was dragged out by bridle and tail just in time 



2l8 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

Perozes was followed by Balas, or Valasgash, his 
brother, who reigned only four years, but proved to 
be a wise and good prince, who in that brief period 
did* much to repair the disasters of Perozes. He 
pacified the Ephthalites, who threatened to overrun 
Persia, by agreeing to pay them a small tribute ; in 
return for this concession they restored the wife and 
daughter of Perozes, and refused to assist the sons 
of that king in their claims to the throne of Persia. 
Balas also reduced Armenia from the state of en- 
mity to become a willing vassal who was ever after 
true in her allegiance to Persia. He conciliated her by 
wisely revoking the edicts against Christianity issued 
by Isdigerd I., and permitting the Armenians in 
turn to destroy the altars of Zoroaster, and expel 
all fire-worshippers from their dominion. We find 
from the earliest periods that religious liberty with 
Christians no less than pagans meant simply the 
liberty to practise their own beliefs ; all united alike 
in denouncing and fiercely persecuting those who be- 
lieved any other creed within their territory. More 
than three fourths of the world's population, includ- 
ing many Christians, even at the present have no 
other notion of the principles of religious liberty. 
Balas, towards the close of his short reign, appears 
to have refused to continue the tribute to the 
Ephthalites, and hostilities were about to be renewed 
when he died, and was succeeded by his nephew 
Kobad, a younger son of Perozes. 

Kobad was enabled to secure himself on the 
throne against all pretenders, by the aid of a contin- 
gent furnished by his friend Kush-newaz, king of the 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 2 1 9 

Ephthalites, to whom the young king appears to have 
continued the tribute, until at least he had so strength- 
ened himself and his country as to be able to hold 
them in defiance. Kobad was soon involved in a war 
with the Khazars. They were fierce barbarians who 
dwelt between the Don and the Volga, and as they 
grew in numbers and strength made terrible plunder- 
ing incursions through the passes of the Caucasus 
mountains and ravaged the northern portions of the 
Persian empire. Kobad showed spirit in the first 
encounter of Persia with an enemy destined in later 
ages to be more than once a scourage to her people. 
At the head of a hundred thousand men he at- 
tacked and utterly overthrew their army and cap- 
tured immense spoils. 

But Kobad made a false step about the time 
that he appeared entering upon a prosperous reign. 
Mazdak, a high priest of magianism, proclaimed 
himself to be a reformer of Zoroastrianism. The 
essential point of his doctrines was the equality 
of all men, including the king and the nobles. As a 
logical deduction from this principle, he asserted that 
none had a right to possess more than others, and 
hence a community of all property was essential. 
Women were to be, in his system, wives of all, and the 
social vices, which necessarily result from the exist- 
ence of marriage laws, were abolished by the very 
fact of the abolition of marriage which he proposed. 
To these remarkable views Mazdak added abstinence 
from animal food, with the exception of milk and 
eggs, and great simplicity of dress. 

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of this 



220 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

founder of a creed intended, if successful, to abolish 
almost all the conditions which men in all ages have 
agreed to consider important for the well-being of 
man ; for he had nothing to gain by changes which 
only tended to lower the exalted position he already 
occupied. And it was this very honesty of Mazdak, 
his genuine enthusiasm, which gave him such suc- 
cess. All ages and ranks crowded to hear him, and 
multitudes accepted his doctrines. What is more 
strange and unaccountable, King Kobad became a 
convert to the persuasive eloquence of Mazdak, and 
by his influence did much to bring about a state of 
things that, if unchecked, would reduce Persia to a 
condition of anarchy and ruin. 

The mobeds or magian clergy, together with the 
nobles, were overwhelmed with dread of the results 
of this tremendous revolution, unless decisive meas- 
ures were speedily adopted to put an end to disorders 
which must prove fatal to the country if allowed to 
continue. The protection extended by the sovereign 
added enormously to the danger. The Armenians 
themselves were also incensed to such a degree by 
the attempts of the governor appointed by Kobad to 
force the new religion into Armenia, that they sum- 
moned the emperor at Constantinople to invade 
Persia and rescue it from one of the most dangerous 
attacks yet made on social order and law. 

This was no time for hesitation ; the nobles of Persia 
assembled in council and solemnly agreed to depose 
King Kobad, whose protection had encouraged the 
new movement to such dimensions. Kobad was 
helpless when not a nobleman in the empire was on 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 221 

his side. He was thrown into the Castle of Oblivion, 
a fortress such as every Oriental capital possesses, 
and his brother, Zamasp, was chosen king in his 
stead. After this Mazdak was seized, but when he 
was about to be executed, his followers arose and 
rescued him. Owing to their numbers, it was consid- 
ered prudent to leave him unmolested, on condition 
that he remained in retirement. 

Zamasp was urged to put his brother out of the 
way ; but he was of a merciful disposition, and soon 
learned to his cost that mercy may sometimes be 
ill placed. Kobad succeeded in effecting his escape 
from confinement, and fled to Kush-nevaz, king of 
the Ephthalites, who gave him his daughter in mar- 
riage, and thirty thousand stout warriors to restore 
him to his throne. Zamasp declined to contest a 
position he doubtless felt rightfully belonged to 
Kobad, and peacefully resigned the sceptre. But, 
according to Procopius, a reliable historian, he was 
cruelly blinded by Kobad. 

The second reign of Kobad continued thirty years. 
He was careful not to risk the rebellion of the nobles 
a second time, and announced that, while he con- 
tinued theoretically to believe in the doctrines of 
Mazdak, he could not as a sovereign allow them to 
be put in practice. This was a shrewd device to 
soothe his conscience without forfeiting his position; 
but it had the effect of checking the growth of the 
new sect, which had thriven on the royal favor. 

Peace had now continued between the Persian and 
the Roman empires for nearly eighty years. The 
Roman empire had by this time been divided into 



222 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the eastern and the western empires, Rome being 
the capital of the latter, and Constantinople of the 
former, although both for some ages yet were under 
the rule of the emperor who made Constantinople 
his capital. Anastasius was emperor when war at 
last broke out between Persia and Rome. Kobad 
was a general of more than average ability, and 
whenever he conducted the campaign in person, 
victory attended his arms. The capture of the im- 
portant city of Amida, after a siege of eighty days, 
was creditable to the skill of Kobad. While he 
remained at the head of his armies in the west, the 
advantages of the war were with Persia. But the 
Ephthalites, in the northeast, demanded his atten- 
tion, and for ten years he was engaged in hostilities 
with them. As that was the most dangerous enemy 
to overcome, Kobad left the charge of the war with 
Rome to his generals, who, without suffering a de- 
cisive disaster, allowed the advantages he had gained 
to be frittered away. The " Great King," therefore, 
proposed terms of peace, which were accepted, agree- 
ing for a large sum of gold to abandon Amida ; the 
Roman emperor, Anastasius, gave solemn promises 
in return to leave matters as they were, a compact 
he entirely failed to keep, by strengthening the 
Roman frontier with a series of fortresses he caused 
to be built at points that in any future war made it 
easier for Rome to attack her rival or to repel inva- 
sions. Russia, in our day, pursues an insincere 
policy in peace similar to that of the Graeco-Roman 
emperor. Treachery finds expression in all ages. 
Hostilities were about to be resumed between the 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 223 

two empires, Justin having succeeded Anastasius, 
when the attention of Kobad was again called to a 
renewal of the disturbances created by the arch- 
heretic Mazdak and his followers. For twenty years, 
under the tacit protection of Kobad, they had pros- 
pered. But as that monarch was growing old, they 
perceived that with his successor might come perse- 
cution and extinction. Kobad had four sons, of 
whom three were bitterly opposed to the communism 
of Mazdak, the more especially as the prophet had 
actually demanded of Kobad one of his wives, the 
mother of Chosroes, in pursuance 
of his peculiar doctrines. Phthas- 
uarsas, the third son, was a convert 
to the teachings of Mazdak, but 
had no prospect of succeeding his 
father. 

These sectaries agreed to per- 
suade Kobad to appoint Phthas- COIN OF varahran v. 
uarsas as his successor if he would agree to con- 
tinue the protection they then enjoyed. Before 
the scheme was ripe Kobad learned of it, but 
in such a manner as to lead him to conclude that a 
plot was on foot to drag him from the throne. This 
was a conspiracy of a sort peculiarly offensive to an 
Eastern king, and Kobad took his part accordingly 
and at once. 

He invited all the Mazdakites to assemble in 
order to witness the investment of Phthasuarsas with 
royal honors. Troops were secretly posted to sur- 
round the unarmed multitude, and at a given signal, 
the entire assembly was put to the sword. Having 




224 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

in this emphatic manner proclaimed his return to 
Zoroastrianism, Kobad entered into a war with 
Gurgenes, the Prince of Iberia, on the shores of the 
Black Sea, with the avowed purpose of forcing the 
Iberians to abandon Christianity for Magianism. A 
point about which Kobad was especially strenuous 
was in regard to the last rites to the dead. The 
Iberians, according to Christian custom, had ceme- 
teries, and laid the dead in graves. This custom the 
king wished them to abandon for the Zoroastrian 
method of leaving corpses within circular enclosures, 
but exposed to the open air uncoffined, to be de- 
voured by ravens and vultures. Gurgenes was 
defeated, taking refuge in Lazica, a mountainous 
region of Circassia, and Iberia became a Persian 
province. 

One of the last events of the long reign of Kobad 
was the re-opening of hostilities with Rome. The 
celebrated Justinian had recently become emperor; 
the Persian armies were conducted by the sons of 
Kobad. This war was chiefly distinguished by a 
crushing defeat sustained by the great Belisarius 
at the hands of Xerxes, a son of Kobad, whose army 
was inferior in numbers to that of the Romans. 
This memorable battle took place near Nisibis, in 
529 A.D. ; it probably presented the only instance 
during a long career of victory, that Belisarius was 
forced to seek flight from the field. Belisarius re- 
trieved his honor in the following campaign, by 
defeating the Persian army at Daras, commanded by 
Perozes and Barsamenes. The battle was long and 
obstinate, but at last terminated in the death of 



FROM SAPOR II. TO CHOSROES I. 



225 




COIN OF CHOS- 
ROES I. 



Barsamenes and the rout of his army. This was the 
first great battle won by the Romans over the 
Persians for nearly two centuries, and Belisarius was 
too conscious of the prowess of his enemy to risk 
the laurels already won, by a pursuit of the retreating 
host. The following year the Persians, 
in turn, retrieved their fortunes and 
closed the war by another hard-won 
victory over Belisarius at Callinicus. 
Kobad showed of what stuff he was 
made, by expressing serious disatisfac- 
tion with his general because he had 
not made his victory complete by capturing Belisa- 
rius and his army. 

Soon after these events, glorious in the history of 
Persia, Kobad was seized with paralysis, and died at 
the age of eighty-two. His long reign had been 
active, and had materially contributed to strengthen 
the Persian empire and the house of Sassan. But 
the records describe this hero and statesman as a 
man cruel and capricious, greater in his conflicts 
abroad than in his personal relations at home. It 
is given to few men to be consistent under all 
circumstances. 




XVII. 

CHOSROES I., SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 

THE final act of the reign of Kobad was one of 
injustice, in which he allowed an excusable love for 
the son of his favorite wife to interfere with the 
natural succession, and thus left to his country a 
legacy of civil war and blood. Kaoses or Kaoos 
was the eldest son, and seems to have been worthy 
to wield the sceptre. But, doubtless through the 
influence of the mother of Chosroes, that prince was 
named by Kobad as his successor, in a formal will. 
The terms of the will were ratified by the magians 
and a majority of the nobles, and Chosroes or Khosru 
became king. The results of this injustice, it must 
be admitted, were ultimately such as to contribute 
to the splendor of the empire ; but Chosroes was not 
permitted to occupy his position without a struggle 
that leaves a stain on his great renown. 

Besides the natural claims of Kaoses, Zames, the 
second son of Kobad, was put forward by a number 
of nobles who considered him best fitted to reign, 
perhaps because of the known severity of Chosroes. 
But before the conspiracy had ripened it came to the 
ears of Chosroes. There was no weakness in his 
method of crushing the opposition. All his brothers 

226 



CHOSROES /., SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 227 

and his uncle, together with all their male children, 
were condemned to die without delay, to the number 
of forty. But one escaped, a youth named Kobad, 
who fled to Constantinople, where he remained the 
rest of his days. The great general, Chanaranges, 
was also executed for assisting Kobad to escape. 
The same fate befell Mebodes, the noble who, by 
producing the will of Kobad, had secured the throne 
for Chosroes ; he had shown hesitation in obeying 
an order of the great king, who was determined to 
show that once on the throne he was supreme. 

Chosroes continued the tremendous measures for 
securing order in his empire, by causing Mazdak, 
who had escaped the massacre ordered by Kobad, to 
be executed, together with no less than one hundred 
thousand of his followers, who had multiplied in 
spite of the persecutions visited upon them. No 
one but a man of preeminent ability could have 
survived such terrible deeds. Assassination or re- 
volt would have hurled their author from power if a 
weak man. But Chosroes was a character so strong 
and possessed of such intellectual force that the peo- 
ple submitted to his authority without further oppo- 
sition, recognizing, perhaps, the stern necessity which 
had driven the young king to commence his reign 
with such fearful acts of retribution. That this 
must have been partially the case, seems evident 
from the fact that by universal acclaim Chosroes 
has received the title of Just. 

While ruling with an iron hand, this great monarch, 
unlike many Eastern kings, administered justice with 
discrimination. Penalties were carefully proportioned 



223 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

to the crime, and rewards were granted, when de- 
served. An anecdote has been handed down which 
illustrates the general opinion of the justice of Chos- 
roes ; while it may excite a smile that a king should 
be praised for a forbearance which is simply in ac- 
cordance with equity and law, it should be remem- 
bered that in despotic countries the wish of a king is 
equivalent to a command, and that whenever he 
so chooses he can make might right. It is related 
that an old woman had a small property adjoining 
the park of one of this king's palaces. To carry out 
his plans for beautifying the park, it was necessary to 
gain possession of the woman's plot adjoining. But 
she refused to part with it, saying that she had 
always lived there, and desired to occupy it until 
her death. The courtiers were amazed at the cour- 
age of a feeble woman, who dared to resist the wish 
of such a monarch, and urged him to seize it without 
her permission. But Chosroes declined to persist in 
the attempt to secure the desired plot of ground, 
and the old woman lived in her little garden until 
she died. Perhaps the monarch was moved by a 
grim humor at the spectacle of a weak and feeble 
woman having the courage to resist his will. 

Since the time of Darius I. no sovereign of Persia 
did so much to improve the administration of the 
laws and the condition of the people. It is the uni- 
versal opinion of the historians of this reign that the 
adminstration of internal affairs was of a high order. 
One of the most important changes introduced by 
Chosroes was in regard to the satrapies, which were 
so numerous that it was difficult for the sovereign to 



CHOSROES /., SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 22Q 

give a personal attention to all the quarterly and an- 
nual reports submitted to him by the satraps. He 
therefore separated the satrapies into four divisions, 
to each of which he assigned a head or viceroy. The 
satraps reported to the viceroys, who in turn pre- 
sented general reports to the great king. In order to 
assure himself of the substantial truth of the reports 
concerning the condition of his people, Chosroes 
made frequent journeys through his dominions, and 




PALACE OF CHOSROES I., AT CTESIPHON. 

employed an army of detectives to inspect matters, 
and to report to him in secret. Cases of maladmin- 
istration were not decided hastily by the caprice of 
the king, as so often happens in Oriental govern- 
ments, but they were carefully examined and judged 
by courts of inquiry. The same severity was shown 
in cases of proved guilt against those who plotted to 
injure the people, as of those who conspired against 
the person of the king. This fact gave great satisfac- 



230 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

tion to the public, who were unaccustomed to see 
their rulers considering the interests of the people as 
of equal value to their own. A case is mentioned in 
which eighty tax-collectors were executed for ex- 
tortion. 

The establishment of a fixed tax on land was also 
an improvement over the old system, which required 
a certain proportion of the crops to go to the crown, 
and the farmer could not reap his crops until the 
officers of the government came and gathered the 
tax off the field. Great hardship was often pro- 
duced by this method of collecting the imposts. 
Stated taxes were also placed by Chosroes on the 
fruit-trees and personal property. He also interested 
himself greatly in improving the condition of agricul- 
ture. The army was likewise remodelled, and a pay- 
master-general was appointed to inspect the troops, 
and see that they received what they were entitled 
to — no more and no less. Frauds had often been per- 
petrated on the royal treasury through the looseness 
of the military organization, and the reforms of 
Chosroes were intended to prevent further robbery 
of the revenues, as well as to increase the discipline 
and efficiency of the army. 

The roads over the empire were carefully repaired 
during this reign, and as the country was but thinly 
peopled in many parts, post-houses were erected and 
guards stationed at many points to afford comfort 
and security to travellers. Chosroes also, unlike 
most Orientals, encouraged the entrance and settle- 
men of foreigners in his dominions. 

Indeed his appears to have been one of those rare 



CHOSROES L, SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 23 1 

minds which seek all knowledge for their portion and 
find expansion in almost every form of experience 
and activity. What encouragement the arts found 
from his patronage we may learn from the remains 
of the great palace he erected at Ctesiphon, of which 
an illustration is given in this volume. The central arch 
of this wonderful structure is 85 feet high, 72 feet ' 
wide, and 115 feet deep. Although nothing now ex- 
ists of this palace but the facade, we may judge from 
this what must have been the size and beauty of the 
structure before it had been destroyed by time and 
war. 

Chosroes also found leisure to gratify his taste for 
literature and philosophy ; and as a patron of all 
learning, founded a large university at Shapoor. He 
is said to have given considerable attention to a study 
of the Greek classics. It was doubtless the breadth 
of his mental vision that made him tolerant of all 
religions. The persecution of the Mazdakites was in all 
probability because of their crimes against the state, 
rather than their beliefs. He early stated it as a 
maxim of his governments, that it was with the 
deeds and not the thoughts of men that he con- 
cerned himself. This shows a very extraordinary 
character of mind, when we consider what crimes 
have in all ages been committed in every European 
country in the name of religion under forms of law. 
The king permitted one of his wives to practise the 
Christian religion in his own palace ; and when her 
son professed the same faith, Chosroes only forbade 
him to go abroad, lest he should become a proselyter. 
The prince ill requited his father for exhibiting a toler- 



232 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ance that was altogether unknown elsewhere in that 
age. Learning from a false rumor that the king had 
died on a distant campaign, the royal youth escaped 
from the palace and summoned all the Christians in 
Persia to arise and overthrow the Zoroastrians. The 
rebellion made considerable headway before it was 
defeated. According to some records the prince fell 
on the field, and according to others he was captured 
and taken before Chosroes, who allowed him to live 
but maimed in such manner that he could not, ac- 
cording to Persian law, inherit the succession. 

The reign of Anurshirwan the Just was the Au- 
gustan period of Persian history previous to modern 
times. The greatness of this sovereign as an admin- 
istrator would alone have made his fame secure. 
But his capacity was still further exhibited by the 
fact that he was, in addition to all his other talents, 
the greatest general of his" time, and one of the 
greatest Persia has produced. His exertions for 
•the improvement of his people and the cultiva- 
tion of his own tastes were expended during brief 
intervals snatched from the long campaigns against 
Romans and barbarians. Wherever his stern eye 
surveyed the field of action, whether in the protract- 
ed march, the siege, or the battle, success perched 
on the leathern banner of Persia, and added to her 
renown. 

Repeatedly Justinian, the Emperor of Constanti- 
nople, was forced to purchase a peace by agreeing to 
pay tribute annually to Chosroes. This was done on 
the plea that the great king agreed with the money 
to keep the Ephthalites, or White Huns, out of the 



CHOSROES I., SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 233 

Roman dominions; but in reality it was a tribute 
paid to keep Chosroes himself out of the territories 
of Justinian. This was undoubtedly the case with 
the treaty concluded in the year 557 A.D. 

It was after that treaty allowed him to turn his at- 
tention to other quarters that Chosroes undertook the 
expedition for the expulsion of the Abyssinians from 
Arabia. Newly converted to a sort of hybrid Chris- 
tianity, and burning with zeal, the Abyssinians had 
crossed the Red Sea and established themselves in 
Arabia Felix, in the province of Yemen, whence 
they ruled most of the peninsula. If permitted to 
remain there they might soon become a formidable 
foe, who would, in alliance with Rome, attack the 
Persian armies on the flank when engaged with that 
power. Chosroes, therefore, listened cordially to 
the entreaties of the Arabians, and sent an army to 
their assistance by sea. The Abyssinians were 
totally defeated and expelled from Arabia, which, 
under a marzpan, or Persian viceroy, became a vassal 
of Persia. 

In the wars with the Ephthalites, or White Huns, 
Chosroes was also completely successful ; they were 
driven back with great losses, including the death of 
their king on the battle-field. In only one quarter 
was Chosroes unsuccessful ; this was in Lazica, on 
the shores of the Black Sea. He desired to gain a 
foothold at that point, with the hope of annoying 
the Romans by the fleets he proposed to launch on 
the Euxine. The very great importance of prevent- 
ing the "Great King" from gaining such a tremen- 
dous advantage, led the Romans, on the other hand, 



234 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

to make almost incredible exertions to prevent the 
success of his designs on Lazica. Notwithstanding 
this, Chosroes would have won his point but for the 
untimely death of the great general, Mermeroes, 
who died of old age at the moment when the final 
triumph was at hand. His successor, Nachorogan, 
wasted the advantages previously gained, and Chos- 
roes, declining to throw away any more armies in so 
distant a quarter, resigned Lazica to Justinian for a 
payment of gold. 

The Lazic war was signalized by many heroic in- 
cidents. The defence of the rock-fortress of Petrais 
one of the most remarkable in history. The Persians 
had captured it after great effort, and it was garri- 
soned with fifteen hundred men when the Romans 
appeared before it. The siege continued until only 
three hundred of the garrison survived the furious 
assaults of the enemy. The besieged were at the last 
gasp when Mermeroes came to its relief with thirty 
thousand men. The Romans hastily broke up the 
camp, and the place was garrisoned with three thou- 
sand fresh troops and victualled for five years. 

In the following year a large Roman army under 
Bessas succeeded in outmanoeuvring the Persians, 
and sat down before the walls of the redoubtable 
fortress. Every device then known, in war was em- 
ployed to capture or to defend the place. The gar- 
rison made large use of the naphtha and petroleum 
with which the Caucasus abounds. 

The place finally fell by a combination of acci- 
dents. A point hitherto considered inaccessible 
was scaled by the assailants at the moment that 



CHOSROES /., SURNAMED ANURSHIRWAN. 235 

the long-battered walls crumbled at two other 
points. When the Romans entered they found 
scarcely a man left able to offer resistance. The 
character of the defence is shown by the losses 
suffered by the garrison. Out of three thousand 
men only seven hundred and thirty were taken 
alive, and of these only eighteen were unwounded. 
Seven hundred fell during the siege ; one thousand 
and seventy were slain in the final assault ; the re- 
mainine five hundred threw themselves into the cita- 




A CEMETERY OF THE ZOROASTRIANS. 

del, and, rather than surrender, fought until by flame 
and sword they perished to the last man. The siege 
of Petra is alone a sufficient proof of the indomitable 
heroism of the Persian soldier when led by brave 
and competent generals. 

Among the last military exploits of the aged 
Chosroes was the expulsion of the Turkish hordes, 
who were now beginning to make a figure in history 
and had ventured across the frontiers of Persia. 
Soon after this event he conducted in person the 
siege of Daras, the most important Roman fortress 



236 . THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

in the southeast, and captured it after a desperate 
resistance of five months. Alarmed by the success 
of the " Great King," whom the Romans supposed 
to be too old to exhibit his former prowess, their 
emperor, Justin, hastened to purchase a truce, of 
which one condition was the payment by Rome of 
an indemnity of forty thousand gold aurei. 

Soon after these events the venerable Anurshirwan 
the Just died in his palace at Ctesiphon, after a 
reign of forty-eight years, during which he had 
carried the empire of Persia to the highest pinnacle 
of glory and power. 






\j*\J}r «s6SKza{§r* 


^WSssa^S^ 






iMSSw 


l«§ili 


Oa-* tSopto^I^sP 



XVIII. 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 



CHOSROES I. was succeeded by his son Hormazd 
or Hormisdas, the son of the Turkish princess, 
Fakim. He ascended the throne without opposi- 
tion and at the outset of his reign exhibited a most 
promising disposition, notwithstanding that, like too 
many Oriental sovereigns, he put his brothers to 
death, as a measure of precaution. But he is said to 
have shown impartiality in his treatment of the rights 
of the poor against the great ; he also announced his 
purpose of tolerating all religions, and advised the 
magians, instead of persecuting the Christians, to 
pay more attention to practising the maxims of their 
own faith. It is difficult to decide what were the 
exact causes that led to the final unpopularity and 
downfall of Hormazd ; possibly it was a want of 
knowledge of character in dealing with men, or his 
head may have been turned by too much power. 
But whatever the cause, he capped the climax by 
degrading the great General Bahram Shobeen for 
losing a battle. This captain was the head of the 
powerful house of Mihran and could ill brook the in- 
sult offered him by the king, who sent to the victor 
in so many campaigns a distaff and cotton with 

237 



238 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

a woman's dress, ordering him to give up war for 
spinning. 

The grizzled veteran called on his troops to re- 
venge the insult offered to them as well as to him. 
The army proclaimed him king of Persia, and he at 
once proceeded to march southward against the 
capital. An army which was sent against him 
mutinied against the king, but, true to instincts of 
law, refused to fight for a pretender not of blood- 
royal, and declared instead for Chosroes, the son of 
Hormazd. The greatest disorder now prevailed, and 
chaos seemed about to bring about the destruction 
of the empire. The people were infuriated against 
Hormazd for the conduct which had wrought such 
dire results. It was not a time for making nice dis- 
tinctions, or considering too carefully what was legal 
or illegal. The crisis required quick and stern treat- 
ment. The maternal uncles of Chosroes, Bindoe, 
and Vistam, aided by other nobles, deposed Hor- 
mazd and threw him into prison, where he was 
blinded in order to incapacitate him for reigning, 
and soon after murdered. Chosroes was appointed 
king in the place of his father. He has been severely 
judged for the deplorable events which led to his 
elevation to the throne, and condemned by his- 
torians as a parricide. But we have no certain 
knowledge that he ordered the death of Hormazd, 
or even knew of it until after the deed was done by 
which he profited. The situation of the country 
was such as to demand severe measures, and it is 
quite likely that his uncles took on themselves the 
responsibility for a crime which seemed a state 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 239 

necessity, hoping that their nephew would grant his 
approval. 

The fact that after becoming strong on the throne 
Chosroes ordered their execution, seems to indicate 
that he was not a participant in the crime, and con- 
sidered that subjects who dared to slay a king, not 
only merited punishment, but could not be allowed 
to live with safety to the tranquillity of the state. 
Kings receive sufficient blame from the judgments 
of history, and Chosroes has perhaps justly come in 
for his share. It is therefore only fair to give him 
the benefit of the doubt in regard to the murder of 
Hormazd. 

The prince who was thus elevated to the throne 
of the house of Sassan by a tragedy that, whether 
he was to blame or not, has left an indelible stain 
on his name, was destined to the most remarkable 
career in the history of his dynasty, and one of the 
most extraordinary in the annals of time. It reads 
like a romance ; the vicissitudes of its hero are al- 
most without parallel, and the inconsistences which 
his character displayed, are such as to baffle analysis 
and make it impossible to make a just estimate of 
the man. From some historians he receives un- 
stinted blame ; by others he is lauded as a great ad- 
ministrator. He mounted to power on the dead 
body of his father ; he did more than any prince of 
Persia, except, perhaps, Shah Abass, to stimulate 
the progress of the arts ; the generals he selected 
expelled the Romans from Asia and Africa, and ex- 
tended the empire of Persia to limits only equalled 
by Darius the Great ; and in his unswerving love for 



240 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

one woman during a long reign, he probably stands 
alone among the kings of Persia ; law and order 
reigned throughout his empire ; and yet he left the 
reputation of having the most extensive harem in 
Persian annals ; he lived to see Persia stripped of half 
her possessions ; and he was murdered in prison — exe- 
crated by his people. Such is a brief statement of 
the contradictions we are to meet in reading the nar- 
rative of this extraordinary career. 

Chosroes II., called by Persians Parveez, or the 
Conqueror, was crowned in the summer of 590 A.D. 
But while the events which led to his elevation were 
occurring, Bahram Shobeen was approaching the 
capital by rapid marches. He was a rival with whom 
the young king could not afford to trifle ; and Chosroes 
appears to have acted with moderation and wisdom 
at this crisis. 

An embassy was sent to Bahram to convey to him 
a conciliatory letter from the king. It was not his 
fault, urged Chosroes, but his father's, that Bahram 
had been insulted. As, therefore, no cause of griev- 
ance existed between them, Chosroes invited Bah- 
ram to abandon his hostile attitude and to return 
peacefully to the capital, where he was promised the 
second place in the empire. Chosroes further of- 
fered to confirm his promise by a royal oath, which, 
in Persia, made it impossible for a king to recede 
from a compact. 

In addressing this letter, Chosroes styled himself, 
according to the custom of Persian monarchs of that 
period : " King of kings, lord of lords, master of 
masters, prince of peace, savior of mankind, a virtu- 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 



241 



ous and immortal man before the gods, a most real 
deity in the sight of men, glorious beyond compare, 
a conqueror, rising side by side with the sun and 
furnishing eyes to the night, of glorious ancestry, 
opposed to war, benevolent, served by the genii, and 
guardian of the kingdom of Persia." This curious 
series of grandiloquent titles is thoroughly Oriental, 




RATSCH-RUSTAM. 



and, with some variations, is still employed by the 
sovereigns of Persia. 

But it does not seem to have made much impres- 
sion on Bahram Shobeen, who, in his reply, merely 
addressed the king as " Chosroes, the son of Hor- 
mazd," while he added a long list of titles to his own 
name. He replied in an insulting tone, chiding him 
for the course he had taken, and summoning- Chos- 



242 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

roes to abdicate the throne. He concluded by say- 
ing : " When you have done as I bid, come hither, 
and I will give you the government of a province. 
Else you will perish like your father." 

Once more Chosroes showed a singular modera- 
tion, and wrote another letter, advising Bahram to 
submit rather than force the king to crush the rebel- 
lion with arms. No reply came to the second letter, 
and Chosroes found that the question would have to 
be settled on the field. He was able to collect a 
small army, and the opposing forces met at Holwan. 
The king had reason to suspect the fidelity of his 
troops, and therefore sought a personal interview 
with Bahram, which, however, resulted in increasing 
the bitterness of the rivals. Chosroes manoeuvred 
for six days to avoid a decisive engagement, in order 
to allow time to suggest some turn of fortune in his 
favor. But on the seventh night, Bahram surprised 
the royalist camp, and by inducing the troops to 
desert Chosroes, forced him to fly for his life. 

The king retreated to Ctesiphon, but dreading re- 
sistance against the host of Bahram he decided to 
seek assistance from one of the powerful neighbors 
of his country. The choice lay between Turks, 
Khazars, Arabs, and Romans. Accompanied by his 
wives and uncles and a slim escort of thirty horse- 
men, the fugitive king fled from Ctesiphon at night. 
Once on the open plain he let the reins fall on his 
horse's neck, leaving it to destiny to decide in what 
quarter he should seek safety and assistance. The 
intelligent animal turned towards the Euphrates 
and Chosroes accordingly crossed the river, and, al- 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 



243 



though sharply pursued by Bahrain, succeeded in 
rinding an asylum within the walls of the Roman 
fortress of Circesium. 

The fugitive king was received with due honor, 
and at once despatched a letter to Maurice, the 
Emperor of Constantinople, asking aid to put down 
his enemies. After considerable discussion as to the 
course most likely to benefit Rome, Maurice and his 
counsellors decided in favor of Chos- 
roes. An imperial letter was sent 
to him, promising him the assist- 
ance he implored, and inviting him 
in the meantime to accept hospital- 
ity as the guest and son of the 
emperor. Persians, at that time 
prisoners at Constantinople, were 
released as a token of good-will, and 
a powerful army of seventy thou- 
sand men was sent, under the com- 
mand of Narses, together with a 
large supply of funds, to assist Chos- 
roes to recover his empire. But 
the wily Greco-Romans were not 
granting all these favors for naught. Under the 
cover of generosity Maurice exacted from Chosroes 
the restoration of Persarmenia and part of Mesopo- 
tamia, together with the very important fortress of 
Daras, which had been one of the last trophies won 
by Anurshirwan the Just. 

During the progress of these negotiations Bahram 
had occupied the capital and announced himself 
king of Persia, meeting with little opposition from 




COIN OF PEROZES. 



244 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the people, although there appears to have been but 
little interest taken by them in supporting a pre- 
tender whose aim was to supplant the great Sassanian 
dynasty. But when tidings came that Chosroes, the 
lawful sovereign, was returning home with a power- 
ful army to claim his own, then conspiracies and re- 
bellions broke out in many quarters against the 
usurper. 

The first engagement between the two armies was 
the suprise of Bryzacius, who commanded the ad- 
vance guard of Bahrain near the Euphrates. He 
was defeated and captured, and barbarously tortured 
and slain in cruel sport to amuse the Persian 
and Roman generals at a banquet. Zoroastrians 
and Christians alike enjoyed the bloody entertain- 
ment. 

Having only a force inferior to that of his antago- 
nist, Bahram was outmanoeuvred and obliged to 
leave the capital unprotected ; Chosroes, by a flank 
movement, re-entered Ctesiphon, and was at once 
accepted by the people as the true sovereign. A 
usurper without the capital was rendered doubly 
weak, as Bahram now found to his cost. But he 
showed his able generalship by a masterly resistance, 
and was only overcome at last by the treachery and 
desertion of his best troops in a decisive battle in 
the north of Persia. At a critical moment six thou- 
sand of his army went over to the enemy. There 
was nothing left but to fly ; his wives, his children, 
his treasures, and the crown were lost. He found a 
temporary refuge with the Turks, only to be followed 
hither by the emissaries of Chosroes, who caused 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 245 

him to be slain by a poisoned dagger. Bahram 
Shobeen was induced to rebel under very great 
provocation, after serving his country and king long 
and well ; such was the condition of the government 
when he revolted that his ability and experience 
gave reasonable promise that his attempt to seize 
the crown would be attended with success. His 
failure furnishes another proof of the great difficul- 
ties that every one must encounter who undertakes 
a revolt against the established order of things. The 
instincts of order in every people sooner or later de- 
mand the vindication of law. 

Chosroes Parveez commenced his second reign, 
591 A.W., and he continued in possession of the 
crown for thirty-seven years. Success had thus far 
crowned the efforts of Parveez, but he had great 
difficulties to contend with still before he could feel 
himself secure. The method by which he had at- 
tained to power — the murder of his father, even if he 
were innocent of it, and the aid of the hereditary 
enemy, Rome — caused his subjects to exhibit apathy, 
or hate. The murmurs of the people, by which he 
was accused of parricide, reached his ear. He felt 
that it was necessary to vindicate his name and 
pacify the country by forgetting the debt of grati- 
tude he owed to Bindoe and Vastam, the uncles who 
had murdered Hormasd, and shown such devotion 
towards Chosroes during his afflictions. He there- 
fore decided to order the execution of the former 
and commanded the latter to leave his satrapy in 
the north and return to the court. But Vastam 
suspected the purpose of his nephew, and instead of 



246 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

obeying, revolted, and established a separate gov- 
ernment in Media with Rhei for his capital. There 
Vastam succeeded in maintaining himself for several 
years, until Chosroes by promising to marry the 
wife of Vastam induced her to assassinate her hus- 
band. Such dark examples of domestic intrigue are 
unhappily not rare in history, especially of the East. 

It is quite impossible, with the imperfect re- 
cords we have concerning a large portion of Persian 
history, to form a conclusion as to the conduct of 
Chosroes in these transactions. But it certainly 
seems as if something must be allowed in his favor 
as after this he gained the esteem of his people and 
carried the empire to the highest point of splendor, 
prosperity, and power which it has reached during 
the twenty-six centuries that have elapsed since the 
birth of Cyrus. This, too, in spite of the fact that he 
was inclined to favor Christianity, if he did not act- 
ually profess that religion. He adopted Sergius, a 
Christian martyr, as his patron saint, and on one 
occasion at least gave the credit of the success of his 
arms to the influence of that saint. 

The favorite wife of Chosroes, the celebrated 
Shireen, was a Christian. He was most tenderly 
attached to her, and it is the testimony of all the 
historians of the time that he continued true to her 
until his death. Indeed his untimely end was pre- 
cipitated by his desire to name her son as his suc- 
cessor instead of the lawful heir. The love of 
Chosroes and Shireen is famous throughout the 
East ; it has passed into legend and poetry, and 
the greatest poets of Persia have found it a con- 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 



247 



genial theme for their muse. Through her in- 
fluence Chosroes was induced to allow her to build 
numerous churches and monasteries near the capital. 
When she died he immortalized her image in some 
of the noblest sculpture of the time, and sent her 
statue to the emperor of Rome and other sovereigns, 
both in her honor and to testify to his grief. Such 
conjugal affection, reflects the highest credit on both, 
and shows, we think, beyond cavil, that this prince 
must have been possessed of some noble traits of 
character, that went far to redeem his fame from the 
attacks that have been made upon it. 




COIN OF CHOSROES II. 

Another fact shows the good that was in his na- 
ture. During the reign of the emperor Maurice, 
who had aided him to recover his kingdom, Chosroes 
Parveez refrained for twelve years from hostilities 
with Rome. On the contrary, the most friendly re- 
lations continued between the two sovereigns, until 
the deposition and assassination of Maurice by 
Phocas. But when Phocas sent an envoy to Chosroes 
to announce his coronation, the king threw the en- 
voy, Lilius, into prison, and declaring his purpose to 
avenge the murder of one to whom he owed so 



248 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

much, commanded his armies to invade the terri- 
tories of Rome. 

Chosroes led the first campaign in person and de- 
feated and slew the Roman general Germanus. He 
followed this victory by another at Arxamus, where 
a large part of the Roman army was forced to sur- 
render. After these successes Chosroes opened the 
siege of the great fortress of Daras, and took it after 
nine months. Chosroes continued his triumphant 
progress by capturing stronghold after stronghold, 
and in 609 carried the war into Syria. These opera- 
tions were conducted by Chosroes in person, and 
won for him the title of Parveez. We think they 
sufficiently disprove the charges of cowardice 
brought against him, and show that he had mili- 
tary ability of a high order. 

If, after this, he preferred to leave the conduct of 
his campaigns to his generals, he only acted like 
many great monarchs who have shown that they 
knew how to select the men fit to fight the battles 
of the country, while the chief of the state remained 
at his capital to administer the internal affairs of the 
kingdom, which often require patience, skill, and wis- 
dom. That Chosroes Parveez did so conduct the 
civil administration of his country while he was able 
to push his conquests over a vast extent of territory, 
is abundantly proved by the statements of historians 
who were not over friendly. 

One of the greatest generals of Chosroes was 
Shahr Barz. He was a man of vast energy and 
great ambition, not easily discouraged by defeat. 
In 614 Shahr Barz captured Damascus, and invested 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 249 

Jerusalem. The Holy City fell after a siege of 
eighteen days and was sacked. The churches were 
burned and the shrines stripped of their treasure. 
Over fifty thousand of the inhabitants were massa- 
cred, and thirty-five thousand carried into slavery, 
including the venerable patriarch, Zacharias. The 
True Cross, as it was reputed to be, was also carried 
to Ctesiphon and given to the charge of the fair 
Shireen, who preserved it with profound veneration. 

In 616 Shahr Barz led the banners of Persia to 
Egypt, captured the great and wealthy city of Alex- 
andria, and extended the authority of Chosroes 
Parveez as far as ^Ethiopia. The importance of this 
conquest may be realized if we consider the fact that 
over nine centuries had passed since the Egyptians 
had thrown off the yoke of Persia. During all that 
interval a Persian soldier had not been seen in 
Egypt. 

While these operations were proceed- 
ing in the southwest, another Persian 
army was launched by Chosroes Parveez 
across Asia Minor. The victorious veter- 
ans of Persia, who in their chain armor 
and steel helmets had for so many 
ages marched from land to land uphold- domestic 
ing the glory of their race and religion, fire-altar. 
were now hurled over regions they had 
not trod since the time of Xerxes. The legions of 
Rome were driven back by the resistless advance of 
the Persian horse, led by the great general Shahen, 
until on the shores of the Bosphorus they looked 
down from the heights of Chalcedon on the glitter- 




250 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ing domes and spires of Constantinople, the very 
capital of the Roman empire. After a siege of sev- 
eral months Chalcedon fell, in the year 617. 

It was a remarkable spectacle which now unfolded 
itself to the historian. After a war of fifteen years, 
of all the vast regions which the legions of Rome, 
led by Caesar, Pompey, Lucullus, Antony, Aurelian, 
Trajan, Belisarius, and many other great captains, 
had conquered in Asia and Eastern Africa during 
successive ages, there now remained not a foot which 
Rome could claim as her own. It was the proudest 
hour in the history of Persia. 

Chosroes Parveez, as he surveyed his empire from 
the towers of his sumptuous palace at Ctesiphon, 
could with justice assume that none before him on 
the Persian throne had held such vast power, and 
that for ages to come there would be hardly one to 
equal or surpass him for the splendor of his court, 
the vastness of his riches, the extent of his domin- 
ions, the influence of his great men in council, and 
the power of his armies in the field. At his 
audiences held in his magnificent pavilion at sunrise 
Chosroes Parveez, or the Conqueror, received dis- 
patches from his governors in Egypt, Arabia, and 
Babylonia, in Syria, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia, 
in Cordoyne, Armenia, and Media, in Parthia, 
Hyrcania, Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gedrosia, 
Carmania, and Persis. About him were gathered 
in stately robes of office dark-bearded men, magians 
and nobles, wise men and generals of exalted rank, 
grave in deportment, of large experience, trembling 
at every utterance of him who sat on the throne, 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 25 I 

yet proud that one of such ability wielded the des- 
tiny of their country and reflected glory on them 
and their native land. Every moment, from the 
lofty gates of the palace swift horsemen dashed 
forth, carrying the decrees and the commands of 
the " Asylum of the Universe " to rulers, princes, 
and generals, in every corner of his vast dominions. 
Was it strange that he who had so many interests 
to consider, and whose decisions none dared dispute, 
should sometimes act unjustly and perhaps with- 
out intention show caprice or cruelty? 

The spacious halls and saloons, the winter and 
summer apartments, the bowers and pavilions of his 
palace, were enriched with the spoils of empires ; 
artists from all lands had wrought on the choice 
objects, the carvings, the embroideries, the mosaics, 
the paintings, which lent such voluptuous comfort and 
splendor to wall and ceiling and floor. The artisans 
of Greece had been invited to assist the Persian 
sculptor to decorate the marble pillars and emblazon 
the achievements of the Great King on the rocks of 
the everlasting hills. Carpets woven of soft woollen 
and silk and embroidered with pearls and gems cov- 
ered the vast floors, sometimes over four hundred 
feet long in one piece, and the ceilings were sup- 
ported on pillars of silver. What were the archi- 
tectural and glyptic successes of the artists whose 
genius was encouraged by the patronage of Parveez, 
we may still judge in part by the sculptures of the 
triumphal arch at Tacht-i-Bostan, and the elaborate 
decorations of the palace of Machita, also con- 
structed during this reign. These works and the 



252 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

description we have of others long since destroyed, 
serve to prove the breadth of mind possessed by 
Parveez. We have seen that he had military ability, 
and that in administration he showed not only 
energy but great executive genius. To this we now 
find that he added a refined love of the arts, and a men- 
tal expansion that enabled him to see the relations 
of things, and hence to desire to produce an equal 
development in the various powers and resources 
of his country. 

It was probably only with a view to carry out the 
same purpose of symmetry in all the affairs of the 
empire that he gave to the domestic arrangements 
of the royal household a luxury that is unsurpassed 
in all the glowing records of Eastern courts. The 
account of the treasures found in his palace at Das- 
tagerd baffles description, and would exceed belief 
did we not know from what sources and for how 
many ages Persia had been rifling the treasure- 
houses of the nations ; and also consider as well that 
wealth in that period was far less distributed than 
at the present day. 

The appointments of the court of Chosroes Par- 
veez included 1,000 elephants, 12,000 white camels, 
and 50,000 horses, asses, and mules. These were 
rendered necessary for a royal escort when he rode 
forth, as well as to transport the tents and baggage 
when the Great King went to his hunting grounds 
with wives and handmaidens,* of whom he. had a 
more numerous supply than any sovereign of whom 

* Even in our time the Shah of Persia maintains a large number of 
animals for his frequent excursions. 



CHO SHOES PARVEEZ. 2$$ 

there is any record. In his harem were no less than 
three thousand concubines or inferior wives, who 
were attended by twelve thousand female servants. 
As the testimony of the historians of the time uni- 
versally declares that Chosroes was true to his 
beloved Shireen until her death, there is every 
reason to believe that these concubines were kept by 
him for the purpose of adding to the ostentatious 
splendor of a great court. Although it is possible 
that after her death he may have abandoned himself 
to the seductive blandishments by which he was 
surrounded. If this were proved to be the case we 
should be the better able to explain the remarkable 
turn of fortune which in the end clouded the star of 
his destiny. 

We have seen the power and magnificence of 
Chosroes Parveez, almost transcending the bounds 
of reality and bordering on the dazzling fancies of 
fiction. But we are now to see him under other cir- 
cumstances so opposite, so dramatic, and so tragic that 
it is difficult to believe we are dealing with actual 
events. The action moves with the rapidity of a 
drama ; scene after scene follows with unexpected 
force and cumulative power, until the final stroke of 
doom closes the tremendous tragedy. 

In the year 617 we have seen the eager warriors of 
Persia within a mile of the capital of the Roman em- 
pire. Only a mile of water separated the victorious 
army from the trophy which, if captured, would have 
laid the world at the feet of Chosroes Parveez. The 
emperor, Heraclius, was in despair. He had actually 
placed his family and treasures on board ships to 



254 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

seek his fortune, elsewhere. His galley had already 
sailed, and he himself was preparing to follow secret- 
ly, to join it at another port, probably with the in- 
tention of making Carthage his destination and 
there to make a final stand for the empire. But at 
the last moment- his plans were suspected by the 
people he was about to forsake. A great tumult 
shook the imperial city, and the people, with the 
patriarch at their head, compelled the emperor to 
give a great oath in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia, 
that whatever might come he would not separate 
his fortunes from theirs, nor leave the capital of 
Rome except to return victorious. 

Bound by this extraordinary predicament, Hera- 
clius suddenly awoke to the consciousness of a genius 
which neither he nor his subjects had suspected. He 
resolved no longer to remain on the defensive, but to 
strike at once for the heart of the enemy's country. 
The plan was of so desperate a character that only a 
soldier of genius could have escaped speedy destruc- 
tion in the attempt. 

He embarked the few troops that remained to him 
on the fleet, and sailed southward leaving Constanti- 
nople to its fate, trusting to divert the enemy's at- 
tention before they could construct ships to transport 
their forces across the narrow strait. It was the 
Roman fleet which proved his salvation, and the lack 
of a fleet that prevented the Persians at this critical 
moment from intercepting the emperor and com- 
pleting their magnificent career of conquest by the 
capture of Constantinople. 

Heraclius sailed on Easter Monday, A.D. 622, on 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 255 

the expedition that was to change the face of the 
world. The objective point of the fleet was the 
Gulf of Issus, in the northeast corner formed by 
Syria and Asia Minor, where Persia had already suf- 
fered a great defeat from Alexander the Great. The 
spot selected for landing was favorable for an army 
so reduced as that of the Romans ; there they might ' 
hope to be able to meet the enemy on equal terms. 
The Persians did not hesitate to march to the en- 
counter. Shahr Barz, the redoubtable hero of so 
many victories, hastened to crush Heraclius, and after 
some maneuvering the armies joined battle. The 
Romans were nerved by despair; 
to them it was life or death for 
Rome ; and Heraclius himself 
displayed a skill that was equal 
to the emergency. After a long 
and desperate struggle the Per- 
sians were forced to retire, and 
the star of Persia begain to wane coin of.isdigerd hi. 
from that hour. Although campaigns and battles fol- 
lowed after this before the triumph of Rome was as- 
sured, yet this was the decisive conflict of the war, 
because it encouraged the Romans and gave Herac- 
lius opportunity to add to the resources needed for 
a continuation of the struggle. 

As winter was approaching Heraclius withdrew 
part of his army and returned to Constantinople. 
The following winter he devoted to active negotia- 
tions with his fierce Circassian allies, the Khazars, 
who agreed to aid him in the Persian war. In the 
spring he sailed with an army for Circassia, and, 




256 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

joined by the Khazars, invaded Persia with an army 
of one hundred and twenty thousand men. What 
he had expected now came to pass. Chosroes was 
forced to recall Shahen from Chalcedon and Shahr 
Barz from Syria, and ordered them to concentrate 
their armies to act in concert with the forty thousand 
men that he himself was leading against the great 
host of Heraclius. 

Chosroes arrived at the strong city of Cauzaca, 
now called Tacht-i-Suleiman, where a decisive stand 
could probably have been made against the invaders 
if Shahr Barz and Shahen had cooperated in time. 
But this was exactly what Heraclius .had foreseen 
and took measures to prevent by the extraordinary 
celerity of his movements. With a speed hitherto 
unknown in the military movements of that age, the 
Roman army poured like a torrent through the 
mountain passes of Northern Persia, sweeping all 
before it. 

The pickets of the " Great King " were actually sur- 
prised and driven in by the speed of the Roman ad- 
vance, when Chosroes gave the order to retreat, and 
moved southward to avoid the battle which Hera- 
clius sought. The retreat turned into a flight ; but 
Chosroes succeeded in eluding the pursuit of the 
enemy, while Heraclius dared not remain in the 
heart of a hostile country, and on the approach of 
winter returned to Constantinople. Chosroes has 
been severely blamed for his course in this cam- 
paign ; but much may be said in his favor. His dis- 
positions were properly made, and if supported as he 
had planned by his generals, he could reasonably ex- 









It - %£- 



TOMB OP AVICENNA. 



257 



258 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

pect a different issue. But with only forty thousand 
men against one hundred and twenty thousand led by 
a commander like Heraclius, and without a supporting 
army at hand to fall back on in the event of a reverse, 
it would have been exceedingly dangerous to the pres- 
tige of Persia to risk a battle, or a siege within the walls 
of Cauzaca. An overthrow there would be to risk the 
existence of the empire. It was the misfortune of 
Chosroes that circumstances suggested the expedi- 
ency of retreating, while on the other hand, the far- 
ther the invaders were drawn away from their base, 
the greater the hazard of reverses to them in turn. 
That the retreat became a rout is due partly to the 
character of Oriental soldiers, to which we have 
already alluded, and partly perhaps to circumstances 
of which we have no certain knowledge. 

This argument, however, does not alter the seri- 
ousness of the disasters which befell Persia during 
this campaign ; and Chosroes was so well aware of 
this that he took the offensive early the following 
season, while Heraclius again invaded Persia on the 
line followed the previous campaign. This time the 
armies of Chosroes were manoeuvred with such skill 
that Heraclius was hemmed in, and only escaped by 
a quickness and skill that remind one of the early 
campaigns of Napoleon. Feigning flight he turned 
on his course and in detail attacked and beat the 
Persian armies, and thus escaped. There was no 
lack of courage or generalship on their part ; but 
their antagonist was probaby a man of greater genius, 
nerved by desperation. 

The following year Heraclius changed the scene of 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 2$Q 

his operations to Asia Minor. The battles of this 
campaign were the fiercest in the long history of the 
wars between Persia and Rome ; in several cases 
Heraclius only wrested victory from defeat by the 
most tremendouspersonal effort. At the end of the 
campaign the honors seemed to be equally divided. 
Chosroes Parveez still held all the territories he had 
captured, but to balance this he had to deal with 
a foe who had penetrated to the heart of his domin- 
ions, and whose armies were gaining in discipline 
and courage, which came from a hardy experience 
and frequent success. 

The hour had come to act with unusual effort and 
decision. Undaunted by the unexpected spirit 
shown by Heraclius, the " Great King " resolved 
upon a final and gigantic effort to bring this pro- 
tracted struggle to a close. That it did not succeed 
according to his plans can only be ascribed to an 
overruling Providence . that willed it otherwise, for 
the plans of Chosroes were made with foresight and 
wisdom and conducted by the ablest generals in Per- 
sia commanding veterans inured to war for thirty 
years. 

Negotiations were opened with the khan of the 
powerful Avars, who was to cooperate with a large 
army commanded by Sha'hr Barz. The allied force 
was to beleaguer Constantinople and capture it, 
while another army under Shahen was to engage the 
attention of Heraclius in Asia Minor. But the situ- 
ation of the imperial city, as well as its fortifications, 
was such as to warrant Heraclius in feeling little 
fear for its safety. The Avars opened the siege with 



260 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

great energy, and assaulted its walls with fury, but 
without the aid of the Persian veterans they could 
accomplish nothing, and Shahr Barz was effectually 
prevented from crossing the Bosphorus by the 
enemy's fleet. 

Theodore, the brother of Heraclius, was placed in 
command of the army of Asia Minor, and there again 
victory declared for the Romans, owing to an unfore- 
seen incident. Similar accidents have more than 
once influenced great battles. The two armies en- 
gaged with great vigor, but a terrible hailstorm which 
arose at a critical moment drove full in the face of 
the Persian ranks, while the Romans, with it at their 
backs, were able to strike home unimpeded, and the 
Persians were defeated with great slaughter. Chos- 
roes was so indignant at the ill-fortune of Shahen, 
that the victor of many a conflict died of a broken 
heart. Heraclius in the meantime repaired to 
Circassia to arouse the Khazars to a fresh invasion 
of Persia. He succeeded in. gaining their assistance 
by promising his daughter in marriage to their chief- 
tain, and the allied force laid siege to Tiflis. But the 
garrison made so gallant a defence that they were 
forced to retire. 

While himself unsuccessful in this campaign, the 
operations of Heraclius' forces elsewhere had been 
of such a nature as to warrant him in undertaking a 
third and decisive campaign in the year 627. His 
aim was Dastagerd, north of Ctesiphon, where for 
many years Chosroes had held his court. To cap- 
ture that city would be to strike such a blow at the 
prestige of Persia as to force her, in his opinion, to 



CHO SHOES PARVEEZ. 26 1 

come to terms. But the movement to be successful 
must be rapid. Unlike Julian and other Roman in- 
vaders of Persia, Heraclius made this, as well as his 
previous attacks, from the north instead of from the 
west across Syria and Mesopotamia. 

The measures taken by Chosroes to resist this in- 
vasion appear as usual to have been made on sound 
principles. He despatched a large army against 
Heraclius with orders to fight him at all hazards. 
By skilful manoeuvring Rhazetes, the Persian gen- 
eral, got in the rear of the invading forces, and a 
great battle was the result near Nineveh. It lasted 
from dawn until noon without advantage to either 
side, until the death of Rhazetes and several of his 
leading officers obliged the Persians to retire. But 
they did so in good order, and remained all night on 
their arms, only two bow-shots from the ranks of the 
enemy, a fact which speaks well for the high state of 
discipline which they had reached. Reinforced soon 
after, the Persians advanced to give battle a second 
time ; but with a boldness born either of great rash- 
ness or extreme confidence in his own powers, Hera- 
clius had in the meantime marched southward with 
such despatch that they failed to reach him. 

Chosroes, on learning of the approach of the Ro- 
mans, despatched swift couriers to recall Shahr Barz 
and hasten the arrival of the army of Rhazetes. The 
latter was commanded to interpose itself between 
the enemy and the canal at Torua, and destroy the 
bridge across the canal, which seems to have been a 
point of the greatest importance in the dispositions 
made by Chosroes for the defence of his capital. 



262 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

But for some reason his order for the destruction of 
the bridge was not executed, and Chosroes being 
outflanked by the Romans, fell back, and then fled 
in secret with his treasures of money and his best- 
beloved wives. We have no clear means of judging 
the course of Chosroes in not offering at least some 
resistance at this crisis, if for no other reason than 
to save his own reputation. But it is quite likely 
that he reasoned that, with the army he had with 
him demoralized, and no other reinforcements at 
hand but a rabble of household domestics, it was 
useless and worse than useless to resist the victori- 
ous legions. If he escaped, the task of the enemy 
would be incomplete ; while if he were taken, such 
is the organization of an Oriental state, that the 
results to Persia might be the same as in the invasion 
of Alexander. 

Heraclius sacked the magnificent palaces of Das- 
tagerd, recapturing three hundred Roman standards, 
and then hastened forward towards Ctesiphon. But 
Shahr Barz was now approaching with a formidable 
army, and the approach of winter warned Heraclius 
to avoid the fate of Julian. He therefore hastened 
northwards and reached winter-quarters with little 
molestation. 

In considering the latter campaigns of this terrible 
war, we are often confounded that it should have 
been attended with such results. Apparently there 
was no good reason for the defeat of the Persians. 
Their plans were excellent, and the courage dis- 
played by them in the field was that of the best 
troops. But at certain critical moments we find that 




SHAH ABBASS THE GREAT. 



263 



264 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

their movements were foiled by incidents beyond 
experience and calculation. The defeat of Shahen 
was owing to a hailstorm driving in the teeth of his 
army ; the victory of Heraclius over the army of 
Rhazetes was owing to the death of that general in 
the moment of victory ; the retreat of Chosroes 
from Cauzaca was due to the celerity of Heraclius, 
which was beyond precedent. Had the Romans 
failed in any one of these operations, the results of 
the war might and probably would have been 
entirely different. 

The fate of Chosroes Parveez was now rapidly 
approaching. Both sides were weary of the war. 
Heraclius sought not conquest, but peace on condi- 
tion of the restoration of the provinces which Chos- 
roes had taken from Rome. The Persians also were 
disheartened ; naturally, but unjustly, they threw 
the blame on their king, forgetting, in recent re- 
verses, his long successes in administration and war. 
But Chosroes had not yet lost heart. As he did 
not live to retrieve his fortunes, historians have called 
his persistence in declining proposals of peace by the 
ugly name of .obstinacy ; but from what we know of 
his character and career, we are inclined to call his 
conduct at this crisis an heroic resolution, which 
might have led to a return of his good fortune but 
for the tragic events that now hastened his end. 

It is hardly to be wondered at, however, that his 
soul should have been embittered by the astonishing 
reverses that had followed such an unexampled 
career of prosperity. It is not necessary to ascribe 
to the'corruption of his character the harshness he 



CHOSROES PARVEEZ. 265 

showed towards Shahr Barz at this time. We have 
evidence that intriguers at court had poisoned the 
ear of the king against his general by statements 
which, whether true or false, were qualified to arouse 
suspicion. It is quite likely the blunt veteran had 
permitted himself to reflect the general discontent 
by using expressions derogatory to his master. At 
any rate Chosroes ordered his execution, which 
Shahr Barz evaded by the aid of secret information 
furnished him by the Romans. This circumstance 
suggests that there were Roman spies at the capital 
of Chosroes, and that perhaps the Romans were 
seeking to help their cause by fomenting rebellion 
against that sovereign. 

But the measure which gave most displeasure to 
the Persian nobles, was the declared intention of 
Chosroes to designate Merdasas, the son of Shireen, 
for his successor in the place of Siroes, the legitimate 
heir. There was nothing unprecedented in such a 
measure. The kings of Persia had repeatedly done 
the same without arousing serious opposition ; and 
it showed that even in the hour of trouble Chosroes 
still tenderly remembered his departed wife. But 
Shireen had been a Christian, — a fact the Persians 
had never forgiven, — and under the existing circum- 
stances they were little disposed to humor the caprice 
of the king. 

A conspiracy of twenty-two nobles was formed, 
headed by Guadanaspa, the commander of the gar- 
rison at Ctesiphon, and including two sons of Shahr 
Barz. The conspirators arose in favor of Siroes, who 
was not only knowing to the plot, but gave the or- 



266 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

der for seizing Chosroes and throwing him into a 
dungeon called the " House of Darkness." Here 
the " Great King " was closely confined, and fed on 
bread and water in meagre quantities. The officers 
of the guard even spat on him, to such depths had 
he fallen ! 

To complete the misery of this unfortunate prince, 
Merdasas, the son of his beloved Shireen, was brought 
into the dungeon, with several other children of 
Chosroes, and murdered before his eyes. On the 
fifth day, his tormentors, by order of Siroes, slew him 
with cruel tortures. He perished in 628 A.D., after 
a reign of thirty-seven years. 

One of the greatest historians of Persia, Mirkhond, 
says: " Parveez holds a distinguished rank among 
the kings of Persia through the majesty and firmness 
of his government, the wisdom of his views, and his 
intrepidity in carrying them out, the size of his army, 
the amount of his treasure, the flourishing condition 
of the provinces during his reign, the security of the 
highways, the prompt and exact obedience which he 
enforced, and his unalterable adherence to the plans 
which he once formed." 

Such a eulogy is in accordance with our own esti- 
mate of the character of Chosroes Parveez ; and 
therefore it is that we are confounded by the events 
which immediately preceded the termination of his 
reign, and incline to consider his fate as an extraor- 
dinary example of the irony of destiny, for which no 
adequate explanation can be found, with our present 
knowledge of the powers which control the fortunes 
of man. 




XIX. 

THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 

SlROES, or Kavadh, or Kobad the Second, as he 
was called after his coronation, succeeded Chosroes 
Parveez when the latter was thrown into prison. 
Four days later he ordered his father's execution. 
Persian historians affirm that he did this only at the 
urgent advice of the nobles, in order to ensure peace. 
The fact remains, however, that he yielded to this 
advice. Immediately after the consummation of 
this horrible tragedy, Kobad entered into negotia- 
tions with Heraclius, and a peace was soon con- 
cluded, by which each State returned to the limits it 
occupied before the conquests of Chosroes Parveez. 
It is worthy of note that notwithstanding the victo- 
ries of Heraclius, Persia, at the death of Parveez, still 
retained her grasp on the provinces he had wrested 
from Rome. These were now resigned, to the con- 
tentment of the Persian people, who were weary of 
the war. Shahr Barz alone objected, perhaps with 
the intention of making this a pretext for the rebel- 
lion he instigated not long after these events. It ap- 
pears to us that the fact that two of the sons of this 
great general were prominent in the conspiracy 
against Chosroes, together with the early attempt 

267 



268 THE STORY OF PER ST A. 

made by their father to seize the crown, without an 
apparent cause except ambition, seems strong proof 
that Chosroes had good reason for suspecting the 
loyalty of Shahr Barz and ordering his execution. 

Kobad was at first esteemed by his subjects, and 
seemed inclined to reign with moderation and jus- 
tice. But he soo'n extinguished all the hopes of the 
people by one of the most wanton and atrocious 
deeds in the history of the house of Sassan. He 
caused all his brothers to be murdered ; the number 
is variously stated, but does not seem to have been 
less than thirty. There was no known reason for 
this deed of horror, beyond the jealous fear of one 
who was intellectually their inferior. But instead of 
preserving order and peace in Persia, the assassina- 
tion of so many princes, while Kobad himself had 
but one child, resulted, as we shall see, in disorders 
and wars for the succession that precipitated the 
ruin of the dynasty and the fall of Persia. 

Kobad had allowed his sisters to survive the 
dreadful massacre of their male relatives, and two 
were at that time dwelling unmarried at the royal 
palace, Pirandocht and Azermidocht. Frantic with 
grief and horror, they rushed into the presence of 
the king, their brother, and, regardless of their own 
lives, reproached him in language that made him 
tremble. " Thou hast killed thy father and brothers 
to gratify thy ambition ; thou hast thought thus to 
perpetuate thy power. But, even if thy life be 
long, die thou must at last. May God deprive thee 
of all the enjoyment of the power thou hast gotten 
in this wise ! " 




%WsM'..i 




270 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

These bitter reproaches struck to the heart of this 
monster like a knife. Remorse made him her vic- 
tim. He hung his head and dared not reply. A 
profound melancholy preyed on his soul, and in a 
few days he was buried by the side of the victims of 
his wickedness. 

About this time a great pestilence added to the 
afflictions of Persia, sweeping away myriads — some 
historians say from one third to one half of the 
population. Kobad died in the year 629, and the 
troubles of Persia were continued by the accession 
of his son, a mere infant, one year old, named Arta- 
xerxes III. The nobles elected Mihr Haziz as regent, 
and he held the reigns of government with modera- 
tion and wisdom. Shahr Barz had in the interval been 
delaying the evacuation of Asia Minor and Syria by 
the Persian armies, and employed the opportunity of 
cultivating a personal friendship with Heraclius. He 
artfully managed these negotiations to arrange a 
separate secret treaty with that emperor, in which it 
was agreed that Heraclius should lend his aid to 
place Shahr Barz on the throne of Persia, in con- 
sideration of large sums to be paid by the Persian 
general in the event of his success, in order to in- 
demnify the Romans for the great losses they had 
suffered from the Persian invasions. As an earnest 
of his sincerity, Heraclius agreed to the marriage of 
Nike, the daughter of Shahr Barz, and his son Theo- 
dosius, and of Gregoria, the daughter of Niketas, son 
of Shahr Barz, with Constantine, the heir to the 
throne of Rome. The names of the children of 
Shahr Barz are Greek, as given by the historians, and 



THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 2/1 

hence imply that he had become considerably Chris- 
tianized, or at least influenced, by his long cam- 
paigns and viceroyalty in the Asiatic territories of 
the Greco-Roman empire. 

Having completed the plans he had evidently 
been maturing for some time, Shahr Barz marched 
on Ctesiphon at the head of sixty thousand veterans. 
The capital fell into his hands ; the infant king and 
the regent were slain, and every thing seemed to 
point to the permanent reign of the usurper and the 
foundation of a new dynasty on the ruins of the 
house of Sassan. But one of the strongest traits of 
Oriental character is respect for constituted author- 
ity. Were it not for this, so many Asiatic dynasties 
would not have continued to exist for ages, as they 
have done, long after they had become weak and 
degenerate. 

We are not surprised, therefore, that after a reign 
of two months Shahr Barz found his position inse- 
cure. He had restored the last Roman province to 
Heraclius and sent an army to expel the Khazars 
from Armenia. To strengthen his hold on the sceptre 
he had also married Pirandocht, one of the daughters 
of Chosroes Parveez, when his ambitious career was 
brought to a close by a revolt of the garrison at the 
capital. He was in the open court of the palace when 
the guards pierced him with their swords, and drag- 
ged his corpse through the streets, crying out : 
" He who usurps the throne of Iran, not being of 
blood royal, shall share the doom of Shahr Barz ! " 
Pirandocht was proclaimed the sovereign, the first 
woman who had ever occupied the throne of Cyrus 



272 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

and Ardeshir. She did not long enjoy her remarka- 
ble elevation to power, and on her death was suc- 
ceeded by her sister Azermidocht, who was assassi- 
nated by one of the numerous pretenders to the 
throne. 

Unmindful of the fate of Bahram and Shahr Barz, 
aspirants to the crown rapidly followed each other 
during the next four years. Anarchy was fast bring- 
ing this magnificent empire to perdition ; everywhere 
discord and blood distracted the unhappy country, 
when relief came from an unexpected quarter. It 
was discovered that a grandson of Chosroes Parveez 
was living obscurely and tranquilly near Istakr, most 
likely concealing his royal birth in order to escape 
the murderous attacks of usurpers. He was fifteen 
years old at this time, and the only living descendant 
of the house of Sassan. The nobles urged him forth 
from his retirement, and crowned him king with 
the name of Isdigerd III. Perhaps it would have 
been well for him if he had never left his obscure 
position, because, although he proved to be a 
worthy, patriotic, and heroic prince, it was his mis- 
fortune to be the last of his dynasty. During his 
reign Persia ceased for nine hundred years to be an 
independent power, and he himself was driven from 
province to province and fell by the hand of an 
assassin. " The stars in their courses fought against 
him," and resistance was vain. 

Some years before this a new power had been 
looming up in the southwest, little regarded at first 
but destined to reverse the beliefs of half the 
known world, and shake the strongholds of Pagan 



THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 273 

and Christian alike to their very foundations. It 
was the power of Mohammed. During the wars be- 
tween Chosroes and Heraclius the camel driver of 
the desert had proclaimed a new religion whose arms 
were enthusiasm and war. His troops were the fiery 
tribes of Arabia, and the dreams of voluptuous bliss 
for those who fell in the cause of the new faith, in- 
spired them with a contempt for death which made 
them irresistible, until they too, like other Oriental 
nations succumbed in turn to luxury and prosperity. 

Durinsr the internal dissensions which followed 
the murder of Chosroes Parveez, the Arabs had ex- 
pelled the Persian satraps from Arabia and had re- 
peatedly overcome the veteran armies of Heraclius. 

Burning with zeal, the Arabs or Saracens now 
turned their arms towards Persia. Isdigerd III. 
prepared to meet this new foe with spirit ; he seems 
from the outset to have divined the character of the 
peril which now menaced his country and taken his 
measures to resist it with prudence and vigor. Nor 
were the Persians at all lacking in energy necessary 
to second the efforts of their sovereign. But the 
greatest difficulty Isdigerd had to encounter from the 
outset was the absence of generals fitted to cope with 
the skilful leaders and furious onset of the enemy. 
The long wars with Rome had for the time exhausted 
the military talent of Persia ; while, on the other 
hand, the Saracens showed another example of the 
law that when a great revolution or change is about 
to occur in the history of the nations, men of unusual 
ability are provided to carry it to a successful issue. 

The early operations of the campaign of the Arabs 



274 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

against Persia were successful, chiefly for the rea- 
sons before mentioned ; and a large and victorious 
army of the invaders at last encamped on the west- 
ern Euphrates. The Persian army in that quarter 
was commanded by Bahman. The jewel-studded 
leathern apron of Kaweh, the standard of Persia for 
so many centuries, was there. Flushed by their vic- 
tories the Mohammedans rashly ventured to cross 
the river and engage the Persians on their chosen 
field. But they met with a crushing defeat, and 
Abu Obe'idah, their commander, was trampled under 
foot by the elephants. This was the last victory 
won by an army bearing the standard of Kaweh. In 
another battle, which soon followed, the Persians 
were repulsed, and fell back in good order on 
Ctesiphon. 

Isdigerd III., equal to the great emergency, made 
abundant preparations during the succeeding winter 
to bring about a decisive victory against the enemy 
in the attack which it was certain they would renew 
in the next campaign. Rustem, a man of experience, 
and the best Persian general of the time, was placed 
at the head of an army of one hundred and twenty 
thousand men. Rustem appears to have been a 
man of energy and courage, but deficient in devising 
plans best suited to meet the impending danger. 

Instead of awaiting the attack of the enemy, 
whose inferior forces must eventually have been 
shattered against the Persian host, — and defeat for 
them meant utter ruin in that early stage of Islamism, 
— Rustem crossed the Euphrates, and assaulted the 
Saracens who were encamped at Kadesiyeh, under 



THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 2?$ 

the command of Saad ibn Vakass. The dispositions 
for the battle made by Rustem were judicious, and 
the conflict was desperate, and inclined in favor of 
the Persians, until the Arabs succeeded in cutting the 
girths of the elephants and precipitating their riders 
to the ground. The Arabs thus relieved from the 
terrible onset of the elephants repulsed the Persian 
attack, and Rustem ordered a retreat to the camp. 
This day's battle is called by the Arab historians, 
the " Day of Concussion." 

During the night and the following day, reinforce- 
ments frequently reached the Arabs, and it is there- 
fore called the " Day of Succors." The battle was 
renewed at first with single combats, which generally 
resulted disadvantageously to the Persians, who lost 
in this way two of their best generals. Under the 
circumstances it was poor generalship for Rustem to 
allow his best material to be thrown away in this un- 
scientific mode of carrying on war. The result of 
this day's fight was a drawn battle, with the advan- 
tage inclining towards the Arabs. 

The third day of this great battle began at first by 
a successful charge of the Arabs, who had become 
accustomed to fighting elephants, and had been in- 
formed by a deserter that the quickest way to disable 
these huge monsters was to strike their spears at the 
eye or the proboscis. Although disconcerted by the 
fury of the elephants, which turned against their own 
ranks, the Persians rallied with great valor and re- 
pulsed the tremendous onset of the Arabs. But at 
night Rustem withdrew his army across the canal El 
Atik, placing that barrier between the two armies. 



2j6 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

As the Persian army was still not defeated, it is 
conjectured that this movement was taken in order 
to obtain much-needed rest, after three successive 
days of severe fighting. The Persians were mostly 
raw recruits, and in any case were less hardy than 
the wiry and nervous Arabs. But the latter seemed 
to have suspected the motive of Rustem, and there- 
fore prevented the Persians from resting by making 
loud noises and constantly renewing their attacks in 
small bodies, which gradually brought on a general 
battle at dawn of the fourth day. The Persians 
were at first successful, recrossing the canal and driv- 
ing back the enemy. But at noon a wild wind arose 
from the desert, bringing with it clouds of sand which 
smote the Persians full in the eyes, while the Arabs 
felt it but little. Here, again, in a critical period of 
Persia's history, we find the elements conspiring to 
aid her overthrow. Hormuzen, who commanded 
one wing, fell back, which gave the Arabs an oppor- 
tunity to drive their van like a wedge between the 
hitherto unbroken lines of the Persians, and enabled 
them to dash on the tent whence Rustem was direct- 
ing the movements of his valiant troops. Before he 
could escape, he was injured by the falling of the 
tent-pole, and was immediately despatched by the 
sword of Hillal, the son of Alkama. Hillal shouted 
with stentorian tones, " By the lord of the Kaaba, I 
have slain Rustem ! " As these fateful words rang- 
over the battle-field, they struck terror to the ex- 
hausted ranks of Iran ; a panic seized the Persian 
troops; they turned and fled. The four-days' battle 
was over. A few regiments stood their ground to 








NADIR SHAH. 



277 



278 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

the last, and were cut down to a man. The leathern 
standard of Kaweh fell into the hands of the enemy 
for the first time,* and the destiny of Persia was 
decided. 

In the desperate and protracted conflict of Ka- 
desiyeh, we see a battle worthy of a great empire ; 
if she was destined to fall, she fell covered with 
glory ; as a later general has said, " All was lost but 
honor." f The tide of the battle was turned by the 
sandstorm, and not for lack of generalship or heroism. 

Although the battle of Kadesiyeh was of such im- 
portance, it appears that the exhaustion of the Arabs 
after the battle was such that for a year and a half 
they abstained from active hostilities. But in 637 
they resumed the offensive under the same general, 
Saad, with an army of sixty thousand men. The de- 
cisive character of the battle of Kadesiyeh was now 
apparent. The Persian generals advised Isdigerd to 
abandon his capital and make a stand in the moun- 
tain regions. The Arabs entered the great capital 
of the Sassanidae and found there treasures so vast 
that the description of them bewilders the fancy. A 
fifth part of the booty was set aside and sent to the 
Caliph Omar, at Medina. What remained allowed 
each soldier twelve thousand dirhems, or nearly two 
thousand dollars. 

Isdigerd concentrated over one hundred thousand 
men at Holwan. Haschem was sent against him, 

* The soldier who took the standard sold it for thirty thousand dir- 
hems, or five thousand, four hundred dollars. Its real value was 
upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, as they discov- 
ered when it was cut to pieces and its gems were appraised. 

f Francis I. to his mother after the battle of Pavia. 



THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 279 

as the Arabian historians assert, with only twelve 
thousand men. This statement of the relative force 
of the two armies we cannot fully accept, for the 
Arabs had already had sufficient proof of the cour- 
age of the Persians. But it may be assumed as true 
that the Arabs were inferior in number, for they con- 
sumed eight months in manoeuvring before they 
could by stratagem get the Persian army into a po- 
sition where they could be defeated and annihilated. 

Isdigerd retired after the battle of Jolula to Rhe'i,* 
in the north of Persia, and made t.hat ancient city 
his capital. He ordered his captains to remain on 
the defensive and hold Holwan at all hazards. But 
the commands of the king were rashly disobeyed, and 
the result was another crushing defeat and the loss 
of that important fortress. But soon after Saad ibn 
Vakass, the Arab general who had thus far con- 
ducted the campaigns against Persia, was removed 
on account of rumors that he was too rapidly learn- 
ing to imitate the luxury of the Persians. Isdigerd 
took fresh heart on hearing of this event, hoping that 
with a change of commanders the enemy might be 
more easy to encounter, a hope in which he was 
strengthened by the magnificent resistance offered 
by Hormuz in the south. No less than eighty bat- 
tles or skirmishes occurred in that quarter before that 
city yielded to the final assault. 

Isdigerd collected an army, stated as high as one 
hundred and fifty thousand men, from all the north- 

* Rhe'i, formerly Rhages, was near the present city of Teheran. 
Its ruins are still quite numerous ; the tomb of a daughter of 
Isdigerd III. overlooks the ruins, near the cemetery of the fire- 
worshippers. 



280 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

ern and eastern provinces of Persia, and in 641 con- 
centrated his forces at Nehavend in Media. It must 
be admitted that this unfortunate monarch showed 
himself a worthy descendant of the house of Sassan. 
The command of this host was entrusted to Firoozan, 
who had been in the battle of Kadesiyeh. The enemy, 
to the number of thirty thousand, were led by No- 
man, who immediately sought to bring on a battle, 
aware how much depended on availing himself of 
the impetuosity of the Arabs. But Firoozan adopted 
a masterly policy of remaining on the defensive and 
thus exhausting the patience and provisions of the 
enemy. He entrenched himself at Nehavend, where 
the two armies faced each other for two months. 
During this period it is probable that Noman re- 
ceived reinforcements, which only tended to exhaust 
his provisions, and the position of the Arabs became 
critical. 

In this emergency Noman resorted to a stratagem 
which completed the ruin of Persia. He spread a 
report that Omar the caliph was dead, and broke up 
his camp as if for a hasty retreat. Firoozan fell into 
the trap, for which he could hardly be blamed, and 
set out in pursuit, which probably was disorderly. 
On the third day he overtook the enemy, whom he 
found on the plain, not flying, as he expected, but 
drawn up in battle array, and a tremendous conflict 
ensued. The Arabs charged with their fierce cry, 
"Allah Acbar ! " and forced the lines of the Persians 
with the furious onset of the cavalry of the desert. 
Firoozan was killed, and, it is said, that one hundred 
thousand of the routed army fell in the disorderly 



THE MOHAMMEDAN CONQUEST OF PERSIA. 28l 

flight. The fury of the Arabs was increased by the 
death of their own general. They halted not until 
they reached Hamadan, which surrendered without 
a blow, and Persia lay bleeding at the feet of Islam. 

Isdigerd III. fled eastwards, and for ten years 
maintained a desultory warfare in the mountains. 
He was at last assassinated by a servant for his 
clothes and jewels, and the house of Sassan came 
to an end 415 years after it was founded by Ardeshir 
Babegan. 

The coins bearing the face of Isdigerd III. indicate 
a prince of handsome features and mild disposition. 
The long resistance he made against the invaders 
shows that he also had firmness and courage. We do 
not agree with the historians who assume that he 
was necessarily weak or pusillanimous because he did 
not personally lead his armies to battle. It was be- 
coming the custom for kings to delegate the military 
command to their generals, and if he were conscious 
that his ability was rather that of the administrator 
than the soldier, it would have only made matters 
worse for him to take the field. His education when 
he took the throne, at the early age of fifteen, certainly 
had not been such as to train him for war. It must 
also be considered that in no country attacked by 
the Mohammedans, in the early period of their con- 
quests, did they meet a resistance as obstinate and 
heroic as in Persia. It should be remembered that in 
many instances chieftains and kings elsewhere sub- 
mitted to the Arabs, and gained security and honor 
by embracing Mohammedanism. But Isdigerd dis- 
dained such a course and struggled with spirit, against 



282 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



his destiny to the end. It is also in his favor that 
historians have charged him with none of the ter- 
rible crimes which stained the record of his line. 
The disasters which overwhelmed him and his 
country were rather the result of a combination of 
circumstances. The storm had been long gathering; 
wherever it struck it carried all before it. Persia 
presented no exception to the uniformity of the suc- 
cess of the Arabs ; but although weakened by for- 
eign wars and internal strife, none exceeded her in 
the heroism she exhibited in this great crisis of her 
history. 




CHAPTER XX. 



PERSIA UNDER THE MOHAMMEDANS. 



The Arabs carried their religion wherever they car- 
ried their victorious arms; and thus after frequent 
outbreaks in various parts of Persia, and violent per- 
secutions, they succeeded in crushing Zoroastrianism 
as a national faith. A number of the fire-worshippers 
fled to India, where their descendants now live under 
the name of Parsees or Persians. A few contrived 
to survive the general proscription of their sect and 
continue in their native land, where they received 
from their conquerors the opprobrious name of Kaf- 
feer or Guebre, which means infidel. Their descend- 
ants in Persia number perhaps thirty thousand at the 
present day, and are allowed to live unmolested. 

With the national religion also went the national 
independence of Persia for over eight centuries. The 
history of that long interval is one of wars and in- 
vasions ; of dynasty rapidly following dynasty ; of 
vast calamities like the overwhelming hordes of Zen- 
ghis Khan, and Timoor Lane,* sweeping like a hurri- 
cane over the country. In one or two cases there 
are instances of Persian dynasties like the Dei'lamee, 

* This name is more properly spelled Timoor Lenk, or Timoor the 
Lame. 

283 



284 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

which ruled for three quarters of a century ovei L ne 
northern part of Persia, in Parthia. But, as a rule, 
the period to which we allude presents a dreary 
monotony of Saracen, and Tartar, and Turkish 
tyrants, none of whom attained to any permanence, 
but who vied in crushing the independence of the 
great Aryan race of Iran. 

But during these ages of obscurity and dependence 
it is interesting to note how the Persian mind con- 
tinued to find expression, how it insisted in preserv- 
ing its vitality, and looked forward to the time when 
a deliverer of their own race should once more give 
freedom to the Persians. It was during that period 
that the great poet, Firdoiisee, composed, in the 
pure language of Persia, the noble historical epic, or 
poetical chronicle, of the legends of Persia, prepared 
at the court of Mahmood of Ghizneh. Soon after 
flourished Nizamee, the poet of the heart and the 
passions, and the lyric poet Hafiz. Then too Omar 
Khayam, composed his celebrated philosophic verses, 
and arranged the calendar for Shah Rokh, and 
Djamee, sang of the loves of Yusuf and Zuleika. 
The celebrated physician and philosopher Avicenna, 
likewise belongs to that brilliant epoch. The archi- 
tectural and keramic arts also flourished in the 
hands of the brilliant artisans of Persia, and the 
Saracens borrowed from her the ideas which in 
Egypt and Spain served them as the foundation of 
the so-called Saracenic school of art. 

To narrate the history of Persia during this period 
of subjection, while in parts romantic and brilliant 
with stirring events, would be in general tedious. 




AGA MOHAMMED KHAN. 



285 



286 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

complicated, and frequently to repeat only episodes 
in the career of conquerors who found elsewhere the 
principal theatre of their deeds of splendor and 
blood. 

But at last the independence of Persia came in 
a manner that would have been least predicted when 
she was subjugated by the Mohammedans. It was 
by that very religion which overthrew the Sassanid 
dynasty that Persia once more arose from her ashes, 

At an early period in the rise of Islamism, the 
followers of Mohammed became divided on the ques- 
tion of the succession to the caliphate, or leadership, 
vacated by the death of Mohammed. Some, who 
were in majority, believed that it lay with the de- 
scendants of the caliph, Moawiyeh, while others as 
firmly clung to the opinion that the succession lay 
with the sons of Alee and Fatimeh, the daughter 
of the prophet, Hassan and Housse'i'n, and their de- 
scendants. In a desperate conflict on the banks of 
the Euphrates, nearly all the male descendants of 
the prophet were slain, and almost the entire Mo- 
hammedan peoples, from India to Spain, thencefor- 
ward became Sunnees — that is, they embraced belief 
in the succession of the line of the house of 
Moawiyeh, called the Ommiades. But there was an 
exception to this uniformity of belief. The Persians, 
as has been seen, were a people deeply given to re- 
ligious beliefs and mystical speculations to the point 
of fanaticism. Without any apparent reason many 
of them became Sheahs, or believers in the claims 
of the house of Alee and Fatimeh, and considered 
pilgrimages to the tomb of Alee at Kerbelah as lit- 



Persia under the Mohammedans. 287 

tie less meritorious than the pilgrimage all true be- 
lievers endeavor to make to the tomb of Mohammed 
at Mecca. Koom and Mesched, where many Sheah 
saints are buried, are also considered extremely holy, 
and are the resort of many Pilgrims. 

The Persian Sheahs also held in great veneration 
the twelve Holy Imams, who were direct descend- 
ants of the Prophet t and famed for their wisdom and 
sanctity. The twelfth Holy Imam mysteriously 
disappeared under persecution, but is expected to 
reappear and once more lead the Islamites to victory 
against the cross. Naturally for centuries the Sheahs 
suffered much persecution from the Sunnees, as the 
rulers of Persia, until the fifteenth century, were 
generally Sunnees. But this only stimulated the 
burning zeal of the Sheahs, and in the end resulted 
in bringing about the independence of Persia under 
a dynasty of her own race. 

In the fourteenth century there resided at Ardebil 
a priest named the Sheikh Saifus, who was held in 
the highest repute for his holy life. He was a lineal 
descendant of Musa, the seventh Holy Imam. His 
son, Sadr-ud-Deen, not only enjoyed a similar fame 
for piety, but used it to such good account as to 
become chieftain of the province where he lived. 
Juna'id, the grandson of Sadr-ud-Deen, had three 
sons, of whom the youngest, named Ismail, was 
born about the year 1480. 

When only eighteen years of age, the young Is- 
mail entered the province of Ghilan, on the shores of 
the Caspian, and by the sheer force of genius raised 
a small army, with which he captured Baku. His 



288 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

success brought recruits to his standard, and at the 
head of 16,000 men he defeated the chieftain of 
Alamut, the general sent against him, and, marching 
on Tabreez, seized it without a blow. In 1499 Ismail, 
the founder of the Sefavean dynasty was proclaimed 
Shah of Persia. Since that period, with the excep- 
tion of the brief invasion of Mahmood the Afghan, 
Persia, has been an independent and at times a very 
powerful nation. The establishment of the Sefavean 
dynasty also brought about the existence of a Sheah 
government, and gave great strength to that sect of 
the Mohammedans, between whom and other Islam- 
ites there was always great bitterness and much 
bloodshed. Ismai'1 speedily carried his sway as far 
as the Tigris in the southwest and to Kharism and 
Candahar in the north and east. He lost one great 
battle with the Turks under Selim II. at Tabreez, but 
with honor, as the Persians were outnumbered; but 
it is said he was so cast down by that event he never 
was seen to smile again. He died in 1524, leaving 
the record of a glorious reign. His three immediate 
successors, Tahmasp, Ismail II., and Mohammed 
Khudabenda, did little to sustain the fame and power 
of their country, and the new empire must soon have 
yielded to the attacks of its enemies at home and 
abroad, if a prince of extraordinary ability had not 
succeeded to the throne when the new dynasty 
seemed on the verge of ruin. 

Shah Abbass, called the Great, was crowned in the 
year 1586, and died in 1628, at the age of seventy, 
after a reign of forty-two years. This monarch was 
one of the greatest sovereigns who ever sat on the 




FETH ALEE SHAH. 



28Q 



29O THE STORY OE PERSIA. 

throne of Persia. He was great in war, as shown by 
his conquests in every direction, conquests which 
carried Persia to the highest pinnacle of renown. 
He was an able administrator — improving the rev- 
enues, regulating his armies, beautifying Ispahan, 
his capital, to a degree that has carried its fame to 
all lands ; and constructing good roads, bridges, and 
inns all over his dominions. He was a patron of 
letters, and by establishing schools of art he did 
more to cultivate the progress of the arts in Persia 
than any sovereign of whom we have any record. 
To crown all these qualifications that entitled him 
to the respect and love of his people to all time, 
Shah Abbass the Great was a prince of wide and 
generous views, anxious to promote friendly and 
commercial relations with all nations ; and unlike 
every other sovereign of his time, he was tolerant of 
all religions and beliefs. It is probably to the times 
and circumstances in which he lived that we must 
chiefly attribute the acts of cruelty which stained 
his name in the later years of his reign. 

It was the misfortune of Persia that the Sefavean 
line rapidly degenerated after the death of Shah Ab- 
bass, and it only adds to his glory that the empire 
held together for so many years after his death, a re- 
sult due at least in part to the admirable improve- 
ments he originated in the system of administering 
the internal affairs of the empire. Taking advantage 
of the low state of the Sefavean dynasty, Mahmood, 
an Afghan chieftain, invaded Persia in 1722 with an 
army of fifty thousand men. Such was the condition 
of the empire that he had little difficulty in captur- 



PERSIA UNDER THE MOHAMMEDANS. 2gl 

ing Ispahan, although it had a population of six 
hundred thousand. He slaughtered every male 
member of the royal family except Housse'in the 
weak sovereign, his son Tahmasp, and two grand- 
children ; all the artists of Ispahan and scores of 
thousands besides were slain. That magnificent capi- 
tal has never recovered from the blow. 

Mahmood died in 1725, and was succeeded by his 
cousin Ashraf. But the brief rule of the Afghans 
terminated in 1727. Nadir Kuli, a Persian soldier of 
fortune, or in other words a brigand of extraordinary 
ability, joined Tahmasp II., who had escaped and 
collected a small force in the north of Persia. Nadir 
marched on Ispahan and defeated the Afghans in 
several battles ; Ashraf was slain and Tahmasp II. was 
crowned. But Nadir dethroned Tahmasp II. in 1732, 
being a man of vast ambition as well as desire to 
increase the renown of Persia ; and he caused that 
unfortunate sovereign to be made away with some 
years later. Soon after Nadir Kuli proclaimed him- 
self king of Persia with the title of Nadir Kuli Khan. 

Nadir was a man of ability equal to his ambition. 
He not only beat the Turks with comparative ease, 
but he organized an expedition that conquered Af- 
ghanistan and proceeded eastward until Delhi fell 
into his hands, with immense slaughter. It is said 
one hundred thousand people were massacred in one 
day in the streets of Delhi. After the marriage of 
his son to the daughter of the Mogul emperor, Nadir 
returned to Persia with vast spoils, including the 
famous peacock throne now in the royal treasury 
at Teheran, and valued at not less than thirteen mil- 



292 THE STORY OF PER ST A. 

lions of dollars. He was assassinated in 1747. Nadi 
Kuli Khan was a man of great genius, but he died 
too soon to establish an enduring dynasty, and after 
his death civil wars rapidly succeeded each other 
until the rise of the present or Khajar dynasty, which 
succeeded the reign of the good Kerim Khan the 
Zend, who reigned twenty years at Shiraz. 

Aga Mohammed Khan, the founder of the Khajar 
dynasty, succeeded in 1794 in crushing the last pre- 
tender to the throne, after a terrible civil war, and 
once more reunited the provinces of Persia under one 
sceptre. He was a man of great energy and decided 
genius for government and war. But he was also 
one of the most terrible monsters who ever held 
power in the East. 

Aga Mohammed Khan was succeeded, after his as- 
sassination, by his nephew Feth Alee Shah, a mon- 
arch of good disposition and some ability. It was 
his misfortune to be drawn into two wars with Russia, 
who stripped Persia of her Circassian provinces, not- 
withstanding the stout resistance made the Persian 
armies. 

Feth Alee Shah was succeeded by his grandson 
Mohammed Shah, a sovereign of moderate talents. 
No events of unusual interest mark his reign, except- 
ing the siege of Herat which was captured in the 
present reign from the Afghans. He died in 1848, 
and was succeeded by his son Nasr-ed-Deen Shah, 
the present sovereign of Persia, who is a man 
of excellent motives and decided intelligence. He 
has sincerely desired to improve the administration 
of his empire and has generally exhibited a clemency 



INDEX. 



30I, 



Mithridates the Great of Par- 
thia, conquest and coins of, 
161 
Mohammed Khudabenda, Shah, 

288 
Mohammed Shah, reign of, 292 
Mohammedanism, sects of, 886 
Musa, seventh Holy Imam, 287 



N 



Nachoragan defeated in Lazica, 
234 

Nadir Kuli Khan, usurps the 
throne, 291 ; captures Delhi, 
291 ; assassinated, 292 

Nasr-ed-Deen Shah, succeeds to 
the throne, 292 ; character of, 
292 

Nehavend, battle of, 280 

Newder, ascends the throne, 36 ; 
tyrannizes his subjects, 36 ; 
slain by Afrasiab, 36 

Nisibis captured by Sapor, 181 

Nizamee, the poet, 284 

Noman wins battle of Neha- 
vend, 280 



O 



Ochus, see Darius II. 
Odenathus, king of Palmyra, 

harasses Sapor, 182 
Omar Khayam, 284 
Ormuzd, 175 
Orodes, becomes king of Parthia, 

162 ; wars with Rome, 162 ; 

assassinated, 164 ; title of, 164 



Parni, see Parthians. 

Pars, see Fars. 

Parsees, see Fire-worshippers. 

Parthia, founding of, 156 ; in- 
vaded by Mark Antony, 166 ; 
invaded by Trajan, 168 ; in- 
vaded by Cassius, 169 

Parthians, origin of, 155, 156 ; 
character, religion, customs, 



coins, and military organiza- 
tion, 159, 160 

Parysatis, wife of Darius II., 
character of, 128 ; intercedes 
for Cyrus the Younger, 130 

Passargad, capital of Persia, 97 

Passargadse, see Passargad. 

Pehlevee language defined, 176 

Perdiccas, regent of Alexandrian 
empire, 150 

Peri Sabor, or Firooz Shapoor, 
besieged by Julian, 198 

Perozes defeated and slain by 
the Ephthalites, 217 

Persarmenia, see Armenia. 

Persepolis, destruction of, 145 

Persia, limits of, at birth of Cy- 
rus, 83 ; when founded, 86 ; 
influenced by Median civiliza- 
tion, 88 ; present limits and 
condition of, 294 

Persian names, origin of mode 
of spelling, 102 

Persian soldiers, quality of, 204 

Pestilence sweeps over Persia, 
270 

Petra, sieges of, 234 ; heroic 
conduct of Persian garrison of, 

235 
Phsedyma detects the false Smer- 

dis, 101 
Phericles, Satrap of Parthia, 

overthrown, 156 
Phocas, emperor, attacked by 

Chosroes Parveez, 247 
Phraates, murders his father 

and usurps the throne, 164 ; 

removes his capital, 164; wars 

with Rome, 165 ; defeats 

Mark Antony, 166 
Phraortes ascends the throne, 

161 ; murder of, 162 
Phthasuarsas invested with royal 

honors, 223 
Pirandocht, reproaches Siroes for 

cruelty, 268 ; married to Shahr 

Barz, 271 ; proclaimed sover- 
eign of Persia, 271 
Piran Wisa welcomes Siawusch, 

72 ; gives Ferenguiz to Sia- 



302 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



wusch, 73 ; befriends Kei 

Khosroo, 76 ; slain, 81 
Pitho, claimant to regency, 150 
Platasa, battle of, 122 
Poets of Persia, 2S4 
Prexaspis murders Smerdis, 100 
Purmajeh, the cow, nurses Feri- 

doon, 6 ; head of, used as a 

talisman in Persia, 9 

R 

Rhages, or Rhe'i, capital of the 
Arsacidse, 157 ; made the capi- 
tal of Isdigerd III., 279 

Rhazetes slain in battle, 261 

Resaina, battle of, 18 r 

Rhe'i, see Rhages. 

Roodabeh, falls in love with 
Zal, 27 ; marriage of, 33 ; 
gives birth to Rustem, 33 ; 
welcomes Rustem from vic- 
tory, 35 _ 

Rustem, birth of, 33 ; captures 
Sipend, 35 ; finds his charger 
Raksch, 37 ; goes in search of 
Keikobad, 37 ; rescues Kei 
Kaoos in Mazanderan, 38 ; 
overthrows Deeve Sefeed, 38 ; 
adventures in war with king of 
Hamaveram, 41 ; drives Afra- 
siab from Persia, 42 ; visits 
Semenjan, 43 ; marries Teh- 
mimeh, 44 ; token left by him 
with Tehmimeh, 44 ; sum- 
moned to resist the invasion 
of Sohrab, 49 ; altercation 
with Kei Kaoos, 50 ; slays 
Zendeh Rezm, 52 ; single com- 
bat of, with Sohrab, 57 ; slays 
Sohrab, 62 ; returns to Seis- 
tan, 64 ; storms Balkh, 70 ; 
slays Soudabeh, 78 ; marches 
to avenge Siawusch, 78 

Rustem, general of Isdigerd III., 
encounters the Saracens at Ka- 
desiyeh, 274 ; slain, 276 



Saad ibn Vakass defeats the Per- 
sians at Kadesiyeh, 275 



Saccas described, 84 

Sadr-ud-Deen Sheikh, 287 

Sahm, gives his adhesion to Min- 
outchehr, 24 ; house of, 24 ; 
a son born to him, 24 ; indig- 
nation of, on learning of his 
son's white hair, 25 ; exposes 
his son, 25 ; rescues him, 26 ; 
attacks the northern rebels, 26; 
arranges for the marriage of 
Zal, 30 ; receives a royal mis- 
sive, 33 ; bestows robe of honor 
on herald of good news, 35 ; 
refuses the crown, 36 

Salamis, battle of, 118 

Samarah, battle of, 201 

Sapor or Shapooree, succeeds to 
the throne, 179 ; renews hos- 
tilities with Rome, 181 ; cap- 
tures Nisibis, 181 ; defeated by 
Temistheus, 181 ; forces Va- 
lerian to surrender, 182 ; pro- 
motes the fine arts, 183 ; char- 
acter, 189 ; death, 189 

Sapor II., crowned, 191 ; char- 
acter of, 191 ; attacks Constan- 
tine, 192 ; wars with Rome, 
193 ; prepares to meet Julian, 
196 ; defeats Julian, 202 ; 
makes advantageous peace, 
203 ; military character of, 
203 ; death, 209 

Saracens, invade Persia, 273 ; 
defeated by Bahman, 274 ; en- 
counter the Persians at Kade- 
siyeh, 274 ; at Nehavend, 280 ; 

Satraps or Khshathrapavan, 
character of their office, 104 

Scythians described, 84 

Sefavean dynasty, founded, 288; 
degenerates, 290 

Seleucia, founding of, 151 ; de- 
struction of, 169 

Seleucidse, dynasty of, 151 

Seleucus surnamed Nicator, 
founds a dynasty, 15 1 

Selm, assigned part of Persian 
empire, 18 ; slays Iredj, 21 ; 
killed by Minoutchehr, 23 

Serv, king of Yemen, course fol- 



INDEX. 



303 



lowed by, when his daughters 
were asked in marriage, 12 ; 
receives the three princes, 14 ; 
enchantments of, 15 ; grief at 
parting with his daughters, 16 

Shahen, captures Chalcedon, 
250 ; threatens Constantinople, 
259 ; defeated in Asia Minor, 
264 ; death from mortification 
at reproaches of his king, 
265 

Shahr Barz, takes Damascus 
and Jerusalem, 248 ; invades 
Egypt, 249 ; defeated at Issus 
by Heraclius, 255 ; usurps the 
throne, 271 ; marries Piran- 
docht, 271 ; slain by the 
guards, 271 

Shahr-i-Veramin, 157 ; see also 
Rhages Shapooree ; see Sapor 

Sheahs, or Persian Mohamme- 
dans, 286 ; veneration of the 
Holy Imams, 287 

Sheikh Saifus, 287 

Shireen, love of Chosroes Par- 
veez for her, 246 

Shushan, see Susa. 

Siamek, slain in war with the 
Deeves, 2 

Siawusch, birth of, 67; subjected 
to temptation, 6S ; put to the 
ordeal of fire, 69 ; leads an 
army against Afrasiab, 69 ; 
storms Balkh, 70 ; resists the 
commands of Kei Kaoos, 70 ; 
goes to the court of Afrasiab, 
71 ; marries Ferenguiz, 73 ; 
founds cities, 73 ; betrayed by 
Guersiwez, 74 ; murdered by 
Afrasiab, 75 

Siawuschgird, founding of, 73 

Sidon destroyed by Artaxerxes 
III., 138 

Simurgh, the bird of the Elborz, 
protects Zal, 25 ; assists at the 
birth of Rustem, 33 

Sindocht, opposes marriage of 
Roodabeh, 27 ; waits on Sahm 
with gifts, 31 

Siroes, or Kavadh, or Kobad the 



Second, advanced to the throne 
and concludes peace with Her- 
aclius, 267 ; massacres his 
brothers, 268 ; death of, 270 

Smerdis, murder of, 100 

Smerdis, the Magian, or the 
False, usurps the throne, 101 ; 
slain, 1 01 

Sohrab, birth of, 44 ; character 
of, 45 ; finds a worthy war- 
horse, 45 ; organizes an inva- 
sion of Persia in search of his 
father, 46 ; attacks the White 
Castle, 46 ; combat with Gur- 
daferid, 47 ; surveys the Per- 
sian host, 54 ; fells Hedjir to 
the earth, 56 ; assaults the 
Persian camp, 56 ; encounters 
Rustem in single combat, 57 ; 
slain by Rustem, 62 ; funeral 
of, 64 

Soudabeh, given in marriage to 
Kei' Kaoos, 39 ; prefers cap- 
tivity with Kei Kaoos, 40 ; at- 
tempts to seduce Siawusch 
from virtue, 69 ; slain by Rus- 
tem, 78 

Sunnee sect of Mohammedans, 
286 

Surenas, character of, 162 ; de- 
feats Crassus, 163; fate of, 164 

Susa, or Shushan, capital of 
Cyrus, 97 

T 

Tabreez, battle of, 288 

Tahmasp, Shah, 288 

Tahmasp II. ; dethroned, 291 

Taisefoon, see Ctesiphon. 

Tehmimeh, falls in love with 
Rustem, 43 ; marries Rustem, 
44 ; a son, Sohrab, born to 
her, 44 ; reveals to Sohrab the 
name of his father, 45 ; la- 
ments the death of Sohrab, 
65 ; death of, 65 

Ten Thousand, retreat of the, 
135 

Thais incites the burning of 
Persepolis, 145 



304 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



Thamauras, succeeds Hous- 

cheng, 2 
Themistocles, stratagem of, at 

Salamis, 118 
Thermopylae, battle of, 117 
Thous, goes a-hunting and finds 

a maiden in the woods, 66 ; 

struck dead by Rustem, 51 
Tigranes, defeated by the Par- 

thians, 161 
Timasitheus wins the battle of 

Resaina, 181 
Tissaphernes, intrigues with the 

Greeks, 129 ; betrays Cyrus 

the Younger, 130 ; treachery 

towards the Greek generals, 

134 

Tour, assigned part of the Per- 
sian empire, which takes its 
name from him, 18 ; murders 
Iredj, 21 ; slain by Minout- 
chehr, 23 

Touran, limits of, 34, 83 

Touranians, 84 ; how named by 
the Greeks, 84 ; expelled from 
Media by Cyaxares, 87 

Trajan invades Parthia, 168 



V 



Valerian, captured by Sapor, 
182 ; fate, 183 

Varahran I. or Bahram, executes 
Manee, 190 ; ascends the 
throne, 190 

Varahran V. or Bahram Goor, 
crowned, 210 ; makes Arme- 
nia a Persian province, 211 ; 
organizes secret expedition 
against the Ephthalites, 212 ; 
defeats the Ephthalites, 213 ; 
anecdote of, concerning the 
lady and the cow, 214 ; lost in 
a quicksand, 216 ; character 
of, 217 

Vastam, revolts, 246 ; assassin- 
ated by his wife, 246 

Volosges I., character of, 168 



Volosges III., defeated by Cas- 
sius, 169 

W 

White Huns, see Ephthalites 

X 

Xerxes, character of, 112 ; 
crushes revolt of Egypt, 114 ; 
invades Greece, 114 ; number 
of his host, 114 ; at Ther- 
mopylae, ri6 ; defeated at Sal- 
amis, 118 ; returns to Persia, 
121 ; assassinated, 125 
Xerxes II., assassination of, 128 
Xenophon, accompanies expedi- 
tion of Cyrus the Younger, 
134 ; assumes command of 
Greek army, 135 ; masterly 
generalship of, 135 



Zal, birth of, 24 ; visits king of 
Kabool, 25 ; marries Rooda- 
beh, 33 ; places Zeff on the 
throne, 36 

Zeff, reign of, 36 

Zendavesta, or holy book of 
Persia, 176 

Zendeh Rezm, slain by Rustem, 
52 

Zenobia, 182 

Zerduscht, see Zoroaster. 

Zohak, tempted by the Evil One 
to slay his father, 4 ; deceived 
by the Evil One, 4 ; invades 
Persia, 5 ; horrible cruelties 
of, 5 ; dreams an evil dream, 
6 ; driven out of Persia, 7 ; 
chained on Mount Demavend, 
10 

Zoroaster, or Zerduscht, founds 
his religion, 87 ; doctrines of, 
88 

Zoroastrianism, doctrines of, 88; 
reformed and systematized by 
Artaxerxes, the Sassanid, 174 




A YOUNG PERSIAN GOVERNOR (MODERN). 



293 



294 THE STORY OF PERSIA. 

hitherto rare with Oriental sovereigns. But he oc- 
cupies a peculiar position owing to the situation of 
Persia, which is the seat of the intrigues of Russia 
and England, the former power undoubtedly intends 
sooner or later to extend her sway over Persia. We 
hardly think this will be soon accomplished, but 
whatever be the result of the ambition of Russia, 
enough has been recorded in this volume to indicate 
the great vitality of the Persian race, and to show 
that even when for a time Persia falls under foreign 
influence and rule she has in the character of her 
people elements that promise again to lead her to 
assert her supremacy under more favorable circum- 
stances. 

Although her present area is far less than in the 
time of S»arius I. or the House of Sassan, yet Persia 
is still a large country, being more than twice the 
extent of Germany. The climate although warm is 
generally healthy ; the soil is fertile wherever it is 
irrigated ; and the progressive tendencies of the 
present dynasty, combined with these advantages, in- 
dicate conditions that promise a renewal of the great- 
ness of Persia when she has emerged from the transi 7 
tionary period through which she is now passing. The 
lone-continued existence of the Persians as an active 
and intellectual race offers a strong ground for belief 
that she has yet before her a prosperous future. 



INDEX. 



Abbass, Shah, the Great, 
crowned, 288 ; character and 
beneficence of, 290 

Abtin, executed by Zohak, 6 

Achemenes, see Acheraenian 
dynasty. 

Achemenian dynasty, origin of, 
88 ; termination of, 146 

^jEschylus, opinion of concern- 
ing Darius, no ; apostrophe 
of, on the defeat of Xerxes, 124 

Afrasiab, slays Newder, 36 ; in- 
vades Persia, 37 ; invades 
Persia during captivity of Kei 
Kaoos, and defeated, 42 ; 
treachery of, toward Sohrab, 
45 ; invades Persia a third 
time, 89 ; receives Siawusch, 
71 ; deals treacherously with 
Siawusch, 75 ; spares Kei 
Khosroo, 77 ; defeated by 
Rustem, 80 ; slain by Kei 
Khosroo, 81 

Aga Mohammed Khan, reduces 
Persia to one government, 
292 ; character of, 292 • 

Alamut defeated by Ismai'1, 288 

Alee, son-in-law of the Prophet, 
286 

Alexander the Great, invades 
Persia, 143 ; destroys Persep- 
olis, 145 ; measures to secure 
his empire, 147 ; fate foretold 
by a plane-tree, 148 ; death, 
149 ; composition of his army, 
150 



Amida captured by Kobad, 222 
Amyrtaeus expels the Persians 

from Egypt, 129 
Anastasius infringes treaty with 

Persia, 222, 
Antigonus usurps the throne, 

151 

Arabs, see Saracens. 

Arbela, battle of, 143 

Arda Viraf reduces Zoroastrian 
beliefs to writing, 175 

Ardeshir, see Artaxerxes. 

Ariobarzanes crushes a rebel- 
lion, 136 

Armenia, incorporated into the 
Persian empire, 21 1 ; destroys 
altars of fire -worshippers, 218 

Arsaces I. founds a dynasty 
and the kingdom of Parthia, 
156 

Arsacidas, see Arsaces I. 

Artabanus, slays Xerxes, 125 ; 
executed, 126 

Artabanus, king of Parthia, 
overthrows armies of Rome, 
170 ; defeated and slain by 
Artaxerxes, son of Sassan, 

174 

Artaphernes defeated at Mara- 
thon, 108 

Artaxerxes Longimanus, ascends 
the throne, 126 ; subdues re- 
bellion in Egypt, 126 ; clem- 
ency towards Megabyzus, 127 ; 
character and death, 127 

Artaxerxes II., crowned, 130 ; 
defeats his brother Cyrus at 
Cunaxa, 133 , death, 136 



295 



296 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



Artaxerxes Memnon, see Artax- 
erxes II. 

Artaxerxes III., accession to 
power, 136 ; reduces Egypt 
and Cyprus, 138 ; destroys 
Sidon, 138 ; designs on Greece, 
139 ; assassinated, 139 

Artaxerxes or Ardeshir, son of 
Sassan, revolts and founds 
Sassanian dynasty, 173 ; de- 
feats Artabanus, 173 ; reforms 
Zoroastrianism, 174 ; perse- 
cutes heretics, 177 ; maxims, 
character, and death, 178 

Artemisium, battle of, 117 

Arts, fine, in Persia, under Sa- 
por, 183 ; borrow ideas from 
China, 188 ; from Byzantium, 
189 ; in time of Shah Abbass, 
291 

Ashraf succeeds Mahmood the 
Afghan, 291 

Astyages, overthrown by Cyrus, 
88 

Atossa, slain by Cambyses, ico 

Avars besiege Constantinople, 

259 

Avicenna, physician and phil- 
osopher, 284 

Azermidocht reproaches Siroes 
for his cruelty, 268 ; ascends 
the throne, 272 ; assassinated, 
272 

B 

Babylon, description of, 91 ; 
besieged and taken by Cyras, 
92 

Bactria, Greek colonists of, re- 
volt and found independent 
kingdom, 154 ; character of, 
154 ; facts relating to its his- 
tory, 155 ; revolts from Persia, 
181 

Bagoas, assassinates Artaxerxes 
III., 139 ; crowns and mur- 
ders Arses, 139 ; elevates 
Darius III., 140; executed, 140 

Bahman defeats the Saracens, 
274 



Bahrain, see Varahran. 

Bahram Shobeen, affronted by 
Hormazd, 237 ; revolts and 
seizes the throne, 240 ; defeats 
Chosroes Parveez, 242 ; de- 
feated, 244 ; assassinated, 245 

Balas, or Valasgash, reign of, 
218 ; pacifies the Ephthalites, 
218 

Barman delegated by Afrasiab 
to accompany Sohrab, 46 

Behistoon, rock of, 103 

Belshazzar, gives a festival in his 
palace by night, 94 ; sees a 
strange portent, 94 ; slain by 
the Persians, 95 

Bessas captures Petra, 234 

Bessus, murders Darius III., 
146 ; sets up an independent 
government, 148 

Bindoe murdered by Chosroes 
Parveez, 245 



Cambyses, ascends the throne, 

98 ; invades Egypt, 99 ; con- 
duct towards the Egyptians, 

99 ; murders Smerdis, 100 ; 
slays Atossa, 100 ; death by 
fall from his horse, 101 

Cassius invades Parthia, 169 

Chalcedon captured by Shahen, 
250 

Chosroes or Khosru, surnamed 
Anurshirwan, awarded the 
sceptre, 226 ; crushes revolt of 
his brothers, 227 ; anecdote of, 
concerning garden of an old 
woman, 228 ; character of his 
administration , 228 ; qualities 
of his mind, 231 ; military gen- 
ius, 232 ; forces Justinian to 
pay tribute, 232 ; expels Abys- 
sinians from Arabia, 233 ; de- 
feats the Ephthalites,233; loses 
Lazica, 234 ; expels Turkish 
hordes, 235 ; captures Daras, 
236 ; death, 236 

Chosroes II., or Parveez, 



INDEX. 



297 



crowned, 238, 240 ; character, 
239 ; negotiations with Bah- 
rain Shobeen, 240 ; forced to 
fly, 242 ; seeks assistance from 
Emperor Maurice, 243; defeats 
Bahrain Shobeen, 244 ; com- 
mences second reign, 245 ; ex- 
ecutes his uncles for murder 
of Hormazd, 245 ; character 
and religion of, 246 ; love for 
his wife Shireen, 246 ; opens 
hostilities with Phocas, 247 ; 
defeats Romans and takes 
Daras, 248 ; successes of his 
generals, 248-50 ; invades 
Egypt, 249 ; dominions of, 
250 ; splendor of his court, 
251, et seq.; defeated at Cau- 
zaca, 256 ; retreats from his 
capital, 262 ; deposed from 
his throne, 265 ; murdered, 
266 ; eulogy of, 266 

Christians, persecuted by Isdi- 
gerd I., 208 

Clearchus, bad generalship of at 
Cunaxa, 153 ; assassinated, 

154 

Constantinople, threatened by 
Shahen, and besieged by 
Avars, 259 

Crassus, invades Parthia, 162 ; 
overthrown by Surenas, 163 

Croesus, character of, 90 ; de- 
feated by Cyrus, 90 ; fate of, 

9 1 . 

Ctesiphon, or Taisefoon, made 

capital of Parthia, 164 ; be- 
sieged by Julian, 199 ; cap- 
tured by the Saracens, 278 

Cunaxa, battle of, 133 

Cyaxares, conquests of, 86 ; in- 
vents military organizations, 
86 ; expels Touranians from 
Media by stratagem, 87 

Cyrus, or Kei Khosroo, or Kur, 
proper spelling of name of, 
82 ; childhood of, 84 ; over- 
throws Astyages, 88 ; character 
of, 89 ; invades Asia Minor, 
89 ; conquers Croesus, 91 ; 



besieges and captures Baby- 
lon, 91 ; military genius of, 96 ; 
death of, 96 ; tomb of, 96-7 ; 
epitaph of, 97 
Cyrus, surnamed the Younger, 
plots against his brother, 130 ; 
pardoned, 130 ; plots a second 
time against Artaxerxes II., 
131 ; defeated and slain at 
Cunaxa, 133 

D 

Damascus, captured by Shahr 
Barz, 248 

Daniel, interprets the mysterious 
writing for Belshazzar, 95 

Daras, captured by Chosroes L, 
236 ; captured by Chosroes 
Parveez, 248 

Darayavalm, see Darius. 

Darius, or Darayavalm, elected 
to the throne, 102 ; age of, 
when crowned, 103 ; executes 
Intaphernes, 103 ; invade; 
Scythia, 105 ; territories unde 
his dominion, 106 ; wins battJ 
of Lade, 106 ; invades Greece 

107 ; defeated at Marathon, 

108 ; character of, no ; death, 
in 

Darius II., called Ochus and 
Nothus, usurps the throne, 
128 ; loses Egypt, 128 

Darius III., called Codomanus, 
crowned, 140 ; attacked by 
Alexander of Macedon, 141 ; 
defeated, 142, et seq.; seeks 
refuge in Bactria, 146 ; mur- 
dered by Bessus, 146 

Darius, son of Xerxes, murder 
of, 126 

Datis defeated at Marathon, 108 

Deeve Sefeed overthrown by 
Rustem, 38 

Deeves, war with Kaiomurs, 2 ; 
make bricks, 2 

Deilamee dynasty, 283 

Demavend, Mount, Zohak 
chained there, 10 



298 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



Demetrius III., surrenders to 
Mithridates, 161 

Deodatus founds Greek kingdom 
of Bactria, 154 

Djamee, the poet, 284 

Djemsheed, Shah, account of 
what he accomplished for Per- 
sia, 2 ; character of, 3 ; slain 
by Zohak, 5 ; daughters of, 
rescued by Feridoon, 9 

Djendil, searches for wives for 
sons of Feridoon, 12 ; proceeds 
to Yemen, 12 



Ecbatana or Hamadan, 83 

Egypt, invaded by Cambyses, 
99 ; revolts from Persia, 127 ; 
subdued by Megabyzus, 127 ; 
throws off Persian yoke, 128 ; 
reduced by Artaxerxes II., 
138 ; invaded by Chosroos 
Parveez, 249 

Elborz, region of, 84 

Ephthalites or White Huns, in- 
vade Persia, 211 ; defeated by 
Varahran V., 213 ; defeat 
Perozes, 217 ; pacified by Ba- 
las, 218 ; defeated by Chos- 
roes, 233 

Eumenes elected to throne of 
Alexander, 151 



Fars, definition of, 83 

Fatimeh, daughter of the Proph- 
et, 286 

Ferenguiz, marries Siawusch, 73 ; 
a son born to her, named Kei 
Khosroo, 76 ; intercedes for 
Piran Wisa, 81 

Feridoon, birth of, 6 ; drives 
Zohak from the throne of 
Persia, 8 ; mace of, 9 ; res- 
cues daughters of Djemsheed, 

9 ; asks blessing of his mother, 

10 ; finds wives for his three 
sons, 12 ; advice to his sons 



when going to Yemen, 13 ; 
goes forth to meet his sons 
and their brides, 17 ; divides 
his empire among his sons, 17; 
laments the death of Iredj, 22; 
eulogy of by Firdoiisee, 23 

Feth Alee Shah, reign and 
character of, 292 

Firanek gives birth to Feridoon, 
6 ; flies with her child to El- 
borz mountains, 6 ; honored 
by Feridoon, 10 

Firdoiisee, the poet, saying of, 
concerning husbandry, 2 ; al- 
lusion to, 284 

Fire-worshippers or Parsees, the 
Persians first became, 2 ; fate 
of, after the Mohammedan 
conquest, 283 ; present num- 
ber of, 283 

Firoozan, commands third army 
of Isdigerd against the Sara- 
cens, 280 ; slain at Nehavend, 

V 280 

G 

Gang, capital of Afrasiab, 72 
Gang-i-Siawusch, founding of, 

73. 

Gordian defeats Sapor, 181 

Gouderz pacifies wrath of Rus- 
tem, 50 

Granicus, battle of, 142 

Greek mercenaries, 129 

Guebre, definition of the term, 
283 

Guerschap, repels Turkish inva- 
sion, 36 ; death of, 37 

Guersiwez, betrays Siawusch, 74; 
slain in battle, 81 

Guiv bears royal message to 
Rustem, 50 ; incurs wrath of 
Kei Kaoos, 51 ; goes a-hunt- 
ing with Thous, 66 

Gurdaferid, daughter of Guzde- 
hem, challenges Sohrab to 
combat, . 46 ; ruse to escape 
capture, 48 

Guzdehem, chieftain of the White 
Castle, 46 



INDEX. 



299 



H 

Hafiz, the poet, 284 

Hamadan, see Ecbatana ; also 
description, 86 

Hamaveram, king of, revolts, 
39 ; treachery of, towards Kei 
Kaoos, 39 ; defies Rustem, 41; 
defeated, 42 

Harpagus, treachery of, towards 
Astyages, 88 

Hassan and Houssein, fate of, 
286 

Hatra, under the Parthians, 164 ; 
betrayed by daughter of 
Manizen, 180 

Hedjir, captured by Sohrab, 47 ; 
felled by Sohrab, 56 

Heraclius, emperor, resolves to 
fly his capital, 254 ; changes his 
purpose, 254 ; invades Persia, 
255 ; defeats Shahr Barz at Is- 
sus, 255 ; invades Persia a sec- 
ond time, from the north, 256 ; 
defeats Chosroes Parveez at 
Cauzaca, 256 ; third campaign 
against Persia, 258 ; captures 
Dastagerd, 262 ; concludes 
peace with Persia, 267 ; aids 
Shahr Barz, 270 

Hit captured by Julian, 197 

Hormazd or Hormisdas, inju- 
dicious conduct of, precipi- 
tates his downfall, 237 ; af- 
fronts Bah ram Shobeen, 237; 
deposed and slain, 238 

Hormisdas IL, 191 

Hormuz, battle of, 173 

Houman delegated by Afrasiab 
to lead auxiliaries to Sohrab, 
46 

Houscheng, reign of, 2 

Hyrcania, defined, 84 



Imams, the twelve Holy, 287 
Intaphernes executed by Darius, 

103 
Irak, see Iran. 



Iran, limits and location of, 83 

I redj assigned kingdom of Iran, 
18 ; slain by his brothers, 21 

Isdigerd I. takes charge of The- 
odosius, 208 ; persecutes the 
Christians, 208 

Isdigerd III., advanced to the 
throne, 272 ; prepares to re- 
sist the Saracens, 273-4 '< 
makes Rhages his capital, 
279 ; flies eastward after bat- 
tle of Nehavend, 281 ; assas- 
sinated, 281 ; character of, 281 

Ismail, Shah, commencement of 
his career, 287 ; founds Sefa- 
vean dynasty, 288 ; conquests 
of, 288 ; loses battle of Tab- 
reez, 288 ; death of, 288 

Ismail II., Shah, 288 

Ispahan, made the capital of Per- 
sia, 290 ; beautified by Shah 
Abbass, 290 ; sacked by Mah- 
mood the Afghan, 29I 

Issus, second battle of, 255 



J 



Jerusalem taken and sacked by 
Shahr Barz, 249 

Jolula, battle of, 279 

Jovian, elected emperor, 202 ; 
ratifies peace with Sapor, 203 

Julian, character of, 194 ; in- 
vades Persia, 194 ; retreats, 
199 ; defeated and slain, 202 

Junaid, father of Shah Ismail I., 
287 

Justin purchases peace with 
Chosroes, 236 

Justinian pays tribute to Chos- 
roes. 232 

K 

Kabool, capital of Mihrab, 26 
Kadesiyeh, battle of, 274, el sea. 
Kaiomurs, founder of Persia, 

1 ; wars with the Deeves, 2 ; 

death of, 2 
Kaweh, demands justice of Zo- 



3oo 



THE STORY OF PERSIA. 



hak, 7 ; raises a revolt, 8 ; 
apron of, made the national 
• standard, 8 

Kaweianee, or apron of Kaweh, 
8 ; used in campaign against 
the Saracens, 274 ; captured 
and destroyed, 278 

Ke'i Kaoos ascends the throne, 
37 ; attacks Mazanderan. 37 ; 
rescued by Rustem, 38 ; goes 
against king of Hamaveram, 
39 ; marries Soudabeh, 39 ; 
cast in a dungeon, 40 ; re- 
turns to his capital, 43 ; learns 
of the invasion of Sohrab, 
49 ; proceeds against Sohrab, 
51 ; marries the mother of 
Siawusch, 67 ; confounded by 
conduct of Siawusch, 72 ; 
sends an army to avenge Sia- 
wusch, 78 ; death of, 80 

Kei Khosroo, birth of, 76 ; left 
in charge of a shepherd, j6— 
7 ; slays Afrasiab, 81. See 
also Cyrus 

Kei Kobad, reign of, 37 

Kerim Khan the Zend, reign of, 
292 

Khazars, defeated by Kobad, 
219 ; assist Heraclius against 
Persia, 255 

Khshathrapavan, see Satraps. 

Kobad, defeats the Khazars, 
219 ; accepts doctrines cf 
Mazdak, 219 ; deposed, 221 ; 
marries daughter of Kush-ne- 
waz, and resumes the sceptre, 
221 ; captures Amida, 224 ; 
defeats Belisarius, 225 ; death 
of, 225 

Kobad the Second, see Siroes. 

Kush-newaz, king of the Eph- 
thalites, 218 



Lade', battle of, 106 
Lazica lost by Nachoragan, 234 
Leonidas fights and is slain at 
Thermopylae, 116 



M 

Macrinus defeated by the Par- 

thians, 170 
Madjin, isles of, 6 
Mahaferid, mother of Minout- 

chehr, 22 
Mahmood the Afghan, invades 

Persia, 290 ; atrocities of, 

291 ; death of, 291 
Manee, career of, 185 ; brings 

art ideas from China, 188 ; 

fate of, 190 
Manizen, daughter of, betrays 

Hatra, 180 
Marathon, battle of, 108 
Mardas, father of Zohak, 3 ; 

killed by Zohak, 4 
Mardonius incites Darius to in- 
vade Greece, 107 ; defeated at 

Plataea, 122 
Mark Antony, defeated by 

Phraates, 166 
Massagetse, described, 84 
Maurice assists Chosroes Par- 

veez, 243 
Mazdak, doctrines of, 219 ; 

seized by orders of Zamasp, 

221 ; followers of, massacred, 

223 ; executed by Chosroes, 

226 
Mebodes executed by Chosroes, 

227 
Media, 83, 86 
Megabyzus, subdues Egypt, 127 ; 

revolts and is pardoned, 127 
Mercenaries, Greek, 129 
Merdasas murdered, 266 
Mermeroes dies in Lazic war, 

234 

Mihrab, king of Kabool, opposes 
marriage of Roodabeh, 27 

Miltiades wins battte of Mara- 
thon, 108-9 

Minoutchehr avenges the murder 
of his father, 23 ; ascends the 
throne, 24 ; wars against the 
rebels in the north, 26 ; puts 
the powers of Zal to the test, 
32 ; death of, 36 



